Sanjiv Bhatt, Ex-Gujarat IPS Officer and Vocal Modi Critic, Held in 1996 Case

Former Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was in the news for his revelations against the Narendra Modi-led administration during the 2002 riots in Gujarat, was arrested by the Crime Investigation Department of the Gujarat police on Wednesday in connection with a 1996 case for allegedly framing a Rajasthan-based lawyer in a narcotics case. Bhatt, along with seven others (including two former police officers) is being questioned with regard to the case. He was initially detained in his home at around 9.30 am for questioning and was later arrested. The case has been re-opened after 22 years.

The Gujarat High Court had handed over the probe to the CID in June this year. The HC has also asked CID to complete the probe in three months. “Three-four months back, the Gujarat High Court had asked the CID to investigate this case and we had formed an SIT (special investigation team) which probed and found that Sanjiv Bhatt had made out a false case against the lawyer. We have taken him for questioning. In all, we have detained seven persons”, the Indian Express quoted DGP CID (crime) Ashish Bhatia, as saying.

What was the 1996 case?

As per reports, the Banaskatha police led by Bhatt had arrested lawyer Sumersingh Rajpurohit upon finding one kilo opium at a hotel in Palanpur, Gujarat. In return, a complaint had been filed by a lawyer against Bhatt and several others in 1996. In his complaint, the lawyer accused Bhatt for falsely implicating him to pressure his family to vacate the rented premises in Pali. Rajpurohit also alleged that he was abducted and arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. He also claimed that he never occupied the room and was in Pali when the raid was going on in the hotel room. As per the reports, the lawyer claimed to have vacated the rented accommodation. While the Banaskatha police maintained that the drugs were found in a hotel room occupied by the lawyer, a probe by the Rajasthan police suggested otherwise.

Vocal critic of Narendra Modi

A 1988 batch IPS officer, Bhatt made a striking revelation after he filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court, claiming that in a meeting attended by him at Modi’s residence on February 27, 2002 in Gandhinagar, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat had instructed the officers to “allow Hindus to vent their anger.”  Following the revelation, Modi had told the Supreme Court-appointed (which was probing the carnages during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat) that he never made any such statement against Muslims in the aftermath of Godhra train carnage.

In August 2015, Bhatt was sacked by the Union Home ministry on grounds of "unauthorised absence" from service.

Bhatt has also been criticising the Modi government on social media. His last tweet on the Kolkata flyover collapse read: “The entire top brass of BJP is hyperventilating about the Kolkata bridge collapse. Incidentally, they didn’t utter even a pipsqueak when a flyover collapsed in Varanasi.”

Another tweet read: “Why do most people use ‘ji’ with Modi? Do we ever say Pig ji or Donkey ji? Disclaimer: No offence, intentional or unintentional, meant to pigs or donkeys.”

Sources believe that Bhatt’s harsh condemnation of the current regime has invited his arrest by re- opening a 22-year-old case.