Former Gujarat IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt, along with seven others, was detained in Banaskantha, Gujarat on Wednesday.
He was detained by the Gujarat CID for questioning in a 1996 case filed by a lawyer, Sumersigh Rajpurohit. Rajpurohit had alleged that he was kidnapped and framed in a false NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) case by Bhatt, when the later was serving as the SP of Banaskantha, reported The Indian Express.
Justice Jain, former sitting judge in the Gujarat High Court, is also named in the complaint. According to the complaint of Rajpurohit, he was implicated in the case to force his family to vacate a shop owned by Justice Jain.
DGP CID (crime) Ashish Bhatia told IE, “Three-four months back the Gujarat High Court had asked the CID to investigate this case and we had formed a SIT which probed and found Sanjiv Bhatt had made out a false case against the lawyer. We have taken him for questioning. In all we have 7 persons detained.”
Bhatt is known for filling an affidavit in the Supreme Court regarding Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat Riots. He is also one of the most outspoken critics of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.