False affidavit case: Ex-IPS officer Bhatt chargesheeted

Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who has alleged complicity of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2002 Gujarat riots, has been slapped with charges of wrongful confinement and fabricating evidence in the false affidavit case.

The chargesheet against Bhatt and his lawyer V H Kanara in the case where a police constable has accused the IPS officer of signing a false affidavit was filed on Wednesday in the sessions court in Ahmedabad by the Ghatlodia police.

Bhatt was arrested on September 30 last year following the complaint filed by constable K D Pant. Local court granted him bail on October 17. 

The affidavit in question sought to establish Bhatt's presence at the February 27, 2002 meeting called by Chief Minister Modi shortly after the Godhra train burning incident.

Bhatt had alleged that Modi, at this meeting, asked the police to give the anti-Muslim rioters a free hand.

Pant has alleged that Bhatt forced him to sign the affidavit for submitting it to Raju Ramchandran, the Supreme Court-appointed amicus curie (friend of court) in the probe in the 2002 riot cases.

According to the chargesheet, Bhatt has been charged under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (causing wrongful confinement), 195 (giving fabricated evidence) and 189 (threatening a public servant). Section 195 entails a minimum punishment of seven years imprisonment.

In his bail plea earlier, Bhatt had denied all charges levelled against him by Pant.

Kanara, who had prepared the affidavits and figures as co-accused in the case, has obtained anticipatory bail.