The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay a direction by the Gujarat High Court that allowed the police to seek police remand of Mumbai-based activists Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand in connection with the alleged Rs 1.4 crore fund embezzlement case.

The HC had in Feb allowed anticipatory bail to the couple  and told them to cooperate with the investigators. The Crime Branch had filed an FIR against Setalvad and Anand in March last year, alleging they used fraudulent means to secure funds of Rs 1.4 crore from the Union Human Resource Development Ministry between 2010 and 2013 through their NGO.

The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Setalvad’s former associate, Raees Khan Pathan.

The case was registered against Setalvad and Anand under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property) and 406 (criminal breach of trust).

It is alleged the husband-wife duo had used the funds to pay witnesses to make false deposition in some of the post-Godhra riot cases of 2002.

In the past, the couple has denied all the allegations against them.

—India Legal Bureau