Who is Sanjiv Bhatt, former IPS officer convicted in 28-year-old drug case?
Sanjiv Bhatt, a disgraced former IPS officer, has been convicted by the a Gujarat court in a drug seizure case, dating back to 1996.
Former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesday was convicted in the 1996 drug seizure case of Palanpur, under NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act). The conviction was announced after he was presented in front of a Palanpur sessions court bench today.
The NDPS case in which Sanjiv Bhatt was convicted dates back to 28 years ago, where he was accused of planting evidence against a lawyer by placing 1.5 kg of opium in his hotel in Palanpur. Bhatt was the District Superintendent of Police in Banaskantha at the time.
Sanjiv Bhatt is already serving a life sentence in a custodial death case which dates back to 1989. He was a prime accused in the 1989 custodial death case, where he had detained hundreds of people during a riot and one of them died.
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Who is Sanjiv Bhatt?
Sanjiv Bhatt is a former officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS) of the Gujarat cadre. After completing an MTech degree from IIT Bombay, Bhatt joined the IPS in 1988. He was the Additional Suprintendent of Police in 1990 when he detained 150 people after a riot in Jamnagar.
Prabhudas Vaishnani, one of the people detained by Bhatt, died of kidney failure a few days later, and his family alleged that ex-IPS officer tortured the deceased in custody. Bhatt is currently serving a live sentence in Vaishnani's death case.
Sanjiv Bhatt also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court against then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, concerning his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. In his affidavit, Bhatt claimed he had attended a meeting where Modi ordered police personnel to let the Hindu community vent their anger at the Muslim community. However, an SIT probe later revealed that Bhatt attended no such meeting.
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1996 drug seizure case
On March 27, former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was convicted in a drug seizure case dating back to 1996, while the sentence is expected to be announced on Thursday.
Rajasthan lawyer Sumersingh Rajpurohit under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) in 1996, claiming they had seized drugs from a hotel room in Palanpur where he was staying.
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However, the Rajasthan police later said Rajpurohit was falsely implicated by the Banaskantha police to compel him to transfer a disputed property located at Pali in Rajasthan, and Bhatt was named as the prime accused in the case.
(With inputs from PTI)
