MUMBAI, 7 December 2007 — Veteran journalist Teesta Setalvad lodged a complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to India’s Chief Election Commissioner for the chief minister’s remarks defending the notorious fake police encounter that led to Sohrabuddin’s murder.
Teesta, who is co-chairman of the human rights organization, Citizens for Justice and Peace, wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalswami stating that Narendra Modi has indirectly justified a notorious police murder.
“We believe that this is an open exhortation to violence, an illegal act by a person seeking re-election to a powerful and responsible position in the state,” Teesta said in her letter.
“We also believe that this amounts to blatant misuse of religion for political ends and violates the election code of conduct,” Teesta wrote in her letter.
“To equate and justify a criminal act against a particular community is nothing short of introducing communal politics into the electoral arena and fomenting hatred against a section of our people,” she said, demanding that action be taken against Modi.
In another development, the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday busted a fake currency racket, arresting six Bangladeshis and seizing 1.12 million worth of counterfeit notes.
Acting on a tip-off that some Bangladeshis were going to meet near Plaza Cinema at Dadar to distribute counterfeit notes, the ATS laid a trap and arrested the accused, said Joint Commissioner of Police (ATAS) K.P. Raghuvanshi. Three of the Bangladeshis had legal documents allowing them to cross the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Meanwhile, Jet Airways has suspended two air hostesses, who were arrested last week by Mumbai police for arranging illegal visas to the US and the UK.
