HC sends EX-IPS officer to 10-day police custody

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court Tuesday sent former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to police custody till September 21 in a 1996 ‘drug planting’ case.

Last week, a court at Palanpur in Gujarat had rejected the police’s plea seeking Bhatt’s remand.

Justice R P Dholaria sent Bhatt along with co-accused and retired police inspector, I B Vyas, to the custody of CID (crime), which is probing the case, for 10 days as against the 15 days custody sought by the government. The court maintained that the custodial interrogation of the two accused is required as there appears a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the case.

The police had told the high court on Monday that they need the custody of the sacked IPS officer to find the source of the drugs, which his junior offi- cers allegedly planted to frame a man.

The police had moved the high court after a magistrate’s court at Palanpur in Banaskantha district rejected the application of the Criminal Investigation Department (Cid-crime), seeking custody of Bhatt and Vyas last week.

In June, the high court had ordered the CID to investigate the case and file a report in three months.

It is alleged that the Banaskantha police planted 1 kg opium in a hotel room to frame Sumersingh Rajpurohit, a lawyer from Pali in Rajasthan, in 1996. The state government had told the court that Bhatt and Vyas were required to be interrogated to find the source of opium that was allegedly planted and at whose behest.