Drug-Planting 1996 || Ex-IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt Convicted In 28-Year-Old Case

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Former Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer Sanjiv Bhatt has been convicted by a Gujarat court in a 28-year-old drug planting case. The case dates back to 1996 when Bhatt, then Deputy Superintendent of Police, was accused of planting drugs to frame a Rajasthan-based lawyer.

Drug-Planting 1996 Case || Ex-IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt Convicted in 28-Year-Old Case

Gujarat: On March 27th, former Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer Sanjiv Bhatt was convicted in a drug-planting case dating back to 1996 by a Sessions Court in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district. Additional Sessions Judge N. Thakkar, after finding Bhatt guilty, adjourned the case to Thursday for the sentencing decision.

Background

In 1996, former Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer Sanjiv Bhatt was involved in the arrest of Rajasthan-based lawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohit by Basankantha Police following the alleged discovery of drugs in his Palanpur hotel room. At the time, Bhatt held the position of Deputy Superintendent of Police in Palanpur.

Rajpurohit, who was ultimately discharged in the case, later accused Bhatt and other police officials of planting the drugs as a means to frame him, alleging that this was done to harass him regarding a property dispute.

Bhatt was arrested in 2018 in connection with this drug planting case, while he was already in jail due to a custodial death case.

In February 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed Bhatt’s plea challenging a Gujarat High Court order that extended the trial completion time until March 31, 2023, stating the plea as ‘frivolous’ and imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on him.

Bhatt has been a prominent figure of the Narendra Modi-led government; before his dismissal from service, he filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court alleging that the Modi-led Gujarat government had a complicit role in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Earlier this year, the Gujarat High Court rejected Bhatt’s appeal against his conviction and life sentence in a custodial death case dating back to 1990, during his tenure as an additional superintendent of police in Jamnagar district.