The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the bail plea of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case. The court ruled that there was no merit in his plea for bail or suspension of sentence. Bhatt, along with co-accused Pravinsinh Zala, was found guilty of murder, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation by the Gujarat High Court in 2024. The case stems from the death of Prabhudas Vaishnani, who was detained by Bhatt following a communal riot in Jamjodhpur in 1990. Vaishnani's brother alleged that Bhatt and other police officers tortured him in custody, leading to his death.
Bhatt was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case in Jamnagar and 20 years in jail in a 1996 case relating to planting drugs to frame a Rajasthan-based lawyer in Palanpur. He is currently lodged in the Rajkot Central Jail.
A sessions court in Palanpur town of Gujarat's Banaskantha district on Wednesday convicted former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a drug seizure case dating back to 1996.
A sessions court in Palanpur in Gujarat's Banaskantha district on Thursday sentenced former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in a 1996 case involving planting of drugs to frame a lawyer.
Bhatt is the third accused arrested in the case after social activist Teesta Setalvad and former Director General of Police of Gujarat R B Sreekumar.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined a plea by sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt seeking the recusal of Justice M R Shah from hearing his petition to submit additional evidence to support his appeal in the Gujarat High Court against his conviction in a 1990 custodial death case.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt challenging a Gujarat high court order which set a deadline for completion of trial in a 1996 drug seizure case.
Sacked Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesday withdrew his plea in the Supreme Court seeking suspension of his life sentence in a 30-year-old custodial death case.
Suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who had implicated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots, was on Sunday served a chargesheet by the state home department in connection with his alleged unauthorised absence from duty for the last ten months. "This is how Modi government shows its sadbhavana," Bhatt said reacting to the development and referring to Modi's ongoing fast.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph held that it was not appropriate for the apex court to interfere in the ongoing investigation.
Suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Gujarat government to desist from "vindictiveness" and revoke a "half-baked" suspension order issued against him.
Terming as "right step" the arrest of IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who had implicated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 post-Godhra riot, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said a government cannot tolerate unaccountability and indiscipline from bureaucrats and police personnel.
The wife of arrested IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has written a letter to the Union home minister P Chidambram stating that he apprehends danger to his life from a "vindictive administration".
Gujarat Indian Police Services officers have extended their support to arrested colleague Sanjiv Bhatt and voiced their anguish at the "shabby" treatment meted out to him in jail and during search operations at his home.
The Nanavati Commission, which is probing the post-Godhra communal riots, has summoned senior police officer Sanjiv Bhatt. Bhatt had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court implicating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in connection to the riots.Sources said that the commission has asked Bhatt to appear before it on May 16 after an application filed before it by the Jan Sangarsh Manch, an NGO representing some of the riot victims.
A key witness in the Sanjiv Bhatt case who had gone missing since Tuesday was kidnapped in connection with a land deal he was brokering and has been released, police said on Friday.
Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team, which is probing the 2002 Gujarat riots, on Wednesday claimed suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt was not a "witness" in the complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, but a "manipulator".
We present the full text of suspended Gujarat police official Sanjiv Bhatt's open letter to Chief Minister Narendra Modi:
Citing "manifold" rise in security threats to him and family members, suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Tuesday sought "foolproof" security for himself and his family members from the Gujarat government.
One more case of custodial torture has been registered against the suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in Ahmedabad on Sunday in connection with an incident in 1990, in which a person allegedly suffered kidney failure after he was beaten up in the police custody.
Sanjiv Bhatt and seven others, including some former policemen attached with the Banaskantha Police, were initially detained for questioning in the case.
The Gujarat high court has dismissed a revision application filed by sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, seeking modification in the charges framed against him in a 1996 case under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).
Gujarat Chief Secretary G R Aloria confirmed the development. "Services of Sanjiv Bhatt have been terminated," he said.
The case pertains to the death of a man named Prabhudas Madhavji Vaishnani who died on November 11 1990, allegedly due to torture in police custody.
Shweta Bhatt, the wife of suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt, on Friday announced that she will contest the state assembly elections on a Congress ticket against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from Maninagar constituency in Ahmedabad.
In a major setback to suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, a local court on Tuesday ordered framing of charges against him and six policemen who are accused in a 21-year-old custodial death case.
Suspended Gujarat cadre Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Friday withdrew his petition seeking stay on criminal proceedings against him in a 1990 incident of alleged police atrocity that resulted in the death of one person.
Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has written an open letter to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart has "completely misconstrued" the order passed by the Supreme Court in the Gulberg Housing Society riot case of 2002.
Suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt, arrested for allegedly fabricating evidence to implicate Narendra Modi in the Gujarat riots, was granted bail by a local court in Ahmedabad on Monday, 17 days after he was sent to jail.
In a setback to suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt, the Gujarat high court has rejected his plea seeking quashing of a complaint in a 1998 custodial torture case and directed the Porbander district court to proceed with the criminal trial against the senior cop.
In a notice, issued under section 91 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on January 13, the SIT had directed Bhatt to produce the original and/or office copy of the alert fax message, which he had attached to his letter of January 4 to the Nanavati Commission, with a copy to the agency.
A day after suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt was arrested, his family today said they feared for his life and have written to the Gujarat Commissioner of Police demanding justice.
As per case details, the Banaskatha Police under Bhatt had arrested Sumersingh Rajpurohit, an advocate, in 1996 on charges of possessing around one kg of drugs. However, a probe by the Rajasthan Police had revealed that Rajpurohit was allegedly falsely implicated by the Banaskatha Police.
The former IPS officer had also sought impleadment of Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, the then MoS Home in the state government and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary S Gurumurthy as parties in his petition, which was also rejected.
Along with the notice served to Bhatt by the Gujarat home department on August 14, it is learnt that the video CD has also been sent to him.
Sacked Gujarat cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was rebuked for his conduct of contacting opposition Congress party, NGOs and their activists to influence the Supreme Court which on Tuesday said he has not come up with "clean hands" to question the lodging of criminal cases against him.
The counsel of social activist Teesta Setalvad on Thursday told a sessions court in Ahmedabad that affidavits which the prosecution claims are false were signed by witnesses and submitted in different courts in the past.
A sessions court had recently rejected her discharge plea in the case, even as the Supreme Court granted her bail after the Gujarat high court denied her relief.
Now, the chief justice of the high court will allot the case to a new judge.
A sessions court in Ahmedabad on Thursday rejected activist Teesta Setalvad's application seeking discharge in a case related to alleged fabrication of evidence related to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
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