Mumbai: A long-time critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over religious riots 13 years ago says an investigation into allegations she received illegal funding is a “vendetta” designed to silence her.

Activist Teesta Setalvad told AFP she was being targeted by the government because of her fierce criticism of Modi following deadly violence in Gujarat state in 2002 when he was chief minister.

“It’s nothing short of a vendetta because even if it were to be seen as an offense, it’s an economic offense if at all, and it should be examined by the courts,” she said.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand on July 8 and raided their home and offices a week later.

The agency is looking into whether Setalvad’s non-governmental organization Sabrang received funding from the United States-based Ford Foundation without government permission.

Setalvad described the raid as “an abuse of state power” timed to prevent her from helping the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri in her legal battle over his killing in the riots.

“Why this kind of personal hounding? Why this attempt to get us into custody? Why this attempt to stop our movements to Gujarat just when the Zakia Jafri case is about to begin?” she asked.

Jafri is challenging a 2013 court decision that cleared Modi and other high-ranking Gujarat officials of any responsibility for the riots which left some 2,000 people dead, most of them Muslims.

Her husband was among scores of Muslims burnt alive when a Hindu mob torched a housing colony in Ahmedabad that became known as the Gulbarg Society massacre.