In a 27-year-old drug planting case, the Gujarat High Court on Thursday denied a motion to suppress the First Information…
(Photo: Twitter/@smgudduk2272)
In a 27-year-old drug planting case, the Gujarat High Court on Thursday denied a motion to suppress the First Information Report (FIR) filed against former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt.
In the case known as “Sanjiv Rajendrabhai Bhatt vs. State of Gujarat,” Bhatt contested the FIR. The verdict was issued by presiding single-judge Justice Samir Dave, who dismissed Bhatt’s motion to annul the FIR and rejected, at the request of Bhatt’s attorney, to postpone the instant order’s effect or delay the trial procedures for a month. “How can I stay the trial when there was never a stay?” Justice Dave said in response to the request for a stay of the proceedings. Don’t stay, sorry.”
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The case started in 1996 when the Banaskantha police in Rajasthan detained a lawyer after they found drugs in his hotel room there that was located in Palanpur. During this time, Bhatt served as Banaskantha’s superintendent of police. But after the lawyer was taken into custody, the Rajasthan police said that Bhatt’s group had made up a case to harass the attorney unfairly over a property issue. Regarding this matter, Bhatt was taken into custody in September of 2018 and has stayed there ever since.
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In a different court case, Bhatt’s request was rejected by the Supreme Court in February of this year. The motion attempted to overturn a Gujarat High Court ruling from January 2023 that extended the deadline for finishing the trial until March 31, 2023. Deemed the plea ‘frivolous’, the Supreme Court fined Bhatt Rs 10,000.
Sanjiv Bhatt is well-known for openly criticising the Narendra Modi administration. He had filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court, accusing the Modi-led Gujarat government of being complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots, prior to his termination from the IPS. His unapproved leave of absence from work was the reason given by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for his termination from employment in 2015.
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