Ahmedabad: In a setback for social activist Teesta Setalvad, the Crime Branch of Ahmedabad Police has charged her of misusing the funds raised by her NGOs, Sabrang and Citizens for Justice and Peace, in the name of riots victims.
The documents of the Crime Branch, which were accessed by the India TV, stated that the social activist managed to divert nearly Rs 4 crore out of total collected Rs 10 crore donations in the name of riots victims and spent the sum of amount on her family.
According to police, Teesta's NGOs had got Rs 10 core donations from different sources, including overseas, for the construction of Museum of Resistance in Ahmedabad's Gulberg Society.
The social activist, report said, ‘utilised' Rs 3.75 crore on her family's foreign trips.
The documents of the Crime Branch also listed the details of Teesta's spending. It clearly stated that she spent money on branded shoes, wrist watches, make-up items and paying her credit card bills etc.
She paid the bill of her own and her husband's (Javed Anand) credit card amounting Rs 10,25,852 and Rs 1,05,959, respectively. The accounts, from which the payments were made, belonged to the NGOs, Sabrang and Citizens for Justice and Peace.
The donations were amassed between 2008 to 2012.
Teesta's family visited Pakistan, Britain, America, Canada, Italy, Kuwait and Saudi Arab. She also spent money for purchasing expensive alcohols from airport's duty free counter.
In total, there are six bank accounts of these two NGOs in two different banks. The transactions were made through these accounts only.
Teesta also made fixed deposits in the name of her husband and daughter.
The data also stated that Teesta and Anand took their salary from six different accounts for several months, meaning they were taking their salary six times in a month which continued for a long.
The city crime branch, in January this year, had registered an FIR against Teesta and others for amassing huge amount in the form of donations for turning Gulberg Society into a riots museum.
It added that there was no expenditure made by her NGOs on riot victims.
