FLASH: Stay on arrest of Teesta Setalvad and her husband extended to December 5. The SC asks Teesta and her husband to adhere to conditions imposed by the Bombay HC while granting them relief.


Setalvad and her husband, Javed Anand, have been accused of violating financial laws in connection with funding given to them by the US-based Ford Foundation.


 Setalvad, 53, has also been charged by the Gujarat police of embezzling funds donated to the non-profits she runs for victims of the communal riots that seared the state in 2002.  She has denied any wrongdoing in all the cases brought against her, and claims that she is being persecuted for her legal attempts to hold Prime Minister Narendra Modi complicit in the violence. The Supreme Court has said there is no evidence that as Chief Minister at the time, Mr Modi did not do enough to stop the riots.

The CBI says its investigation is based on a complaint from the Home Ministry and that the sum involved is over 1 crore rupees ($160,000).

Amid a crackdown on foreign charities, the Home Ministry put the $12.5 billion Ford Foundation on a watch list this year. The PM has also criticized what he called "five-star activists.