Residence of ex-top cop who took on Modi faces civic hammer

Civic officials started today razing illegal construction at dismissed Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt's residence here, hours after the Supreme Court rejected a plea seeking a stay on its demolition.

Officials and labourers of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) started the demolition exercise this afternoon with the help of various equipment and they are likely to complete the task by late tonight.

Bhatt's residence, a ground plus two-storey bungalow, is located in the Sushil Park Housing Society in the posh Gurukul area here.

The 1988-batch IPS officer, who had taken on the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was in August 2015 sacked by the Union home ministry on the ground of "unauthorised absence" from service.

According to AMC officials, the Supreme Court earlier today dismissed the plea filed by Bhatt's wife Shweta against the demolition of illegal structure.

"A total of 92 square metres of area was illegally constructed and will be demolished. The illegal construction was done inside the margin area of the residence.

"The illegal construction covers the ground floor and two floors above," said Assistant Municipal Commissioner Vishal Khanama.

"We started the demolition process as soon as the Supreme Court dismissed (Shweta) Bhatt's plea seeking a stay on the demolition process," he added.

In 2012, one Pravinchandra Patel, who owns a bungalow behind Bhatt's residence, had moved the Gujarat High Court, seeking direction to the AMC to demolish the "unauthorised construction" by Bhatt.

Patel, an NRI, had alleged Bhatt did not pay heed to his request to leave margin space while constructing upper floors, forcing him to file a petition in the HC.

"We share the same compound wall. However, it is not a common wall as it was built on our land. When Bhatt started building upper floors using that wall and without leaving any margin, we raised objection. However, he told us to do whatever we can," said Patel's brother, Jayant Patel.

Bhatt's wife had moved a division bench of the HC after a single judge bench ordered the demolition of illegal portions in 2016.

However, the division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi on July 25 dismissed the appeal and allowed the civic authorities to go ahead.

Soon after the HC order, Bhatt's wife Shweta had moved the Supreme Court which stayed the demolition till today and asked the petitioner to file a special leave petition.

However, the SC rejected her petition today.

Bhatt had filed an affidavit before the SC, claiming he had attended a meeting at Modi's residence in Gandhinagar on February 27, 2002, during which the CM had instructed the top police officers to allow the Hindus to "vent out their anger" after the torching of Sabarmati Express at Godhra.

However, his claim was rejected by the apex court- appointed Special Investigation Team which probed the post- Godhra riot cases.