Lifer for former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt

Ahmedabad, Jun. 20 (HS): Jamnagar Sessions court has sentenced IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt to life imprisonment in a case under Section 302 of the IPC in which a custodial death occured in 1990. According to the prosecution, Sanjeev Bhatt had detained more than a hundred people during a communal riot there and one person was killed in the hospital after being released.

Bhatt had filed a petition in the apex court challenging the order of the Gujarat High Court. During the hearing of the case of death in custody, the High Court rejected Sanjeev Bhat’s request to call additional witnesses for questioning.

During the trial, the Gujarat High Court had refused his request to summon some of the witnesses to testify. The Gujarat government informed the Supreme Court that the trial court had already reserved the decision for June 20 in connection with the 30-year-old custodial death.

Supreme Court acknowledged the arguments of the Gujarat government and the prosecution that all the witnesses were presented, after which the decision was reserved. Bhatt was suspended in 2011 due to absence of clearance and misuse of allocated government vehicles. After this he was sacked in 2015.