SC seeks Guj police's reply on ex-cop Sanjiv Bhatt's bail plea in 2-decade-old drug seizure case

The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear a bail plea of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in connection with a two-decade-old drug seizure case.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna issued notice on the bail plea and sought response from Gujarat police.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Bhatt, said the high court has dismissed the plea in the case.

On March 7, the Gujarat High Court had rejected the bail application filed by Bhatt in connection with the case.

Bhatt, is behind the bars since September last year in connection with a 23-year-old drug seizure case.

The former Gujarat-cadre IPS officer had approached the high court after a Sessions court in Banaskantha district turned down his bail plea in December last year.

He was suspended in 2011 on charges of remaining absent from duty without permission and misuse of official vehicles.

Bhatt, who was sacked from service in 2015, was a superintendent of police in Banaskantha district in 1996.

The district police under him had arrested one Sumersingh Rajpurohit, a Rajasthan-based lawyer, in 1996, claiming that they have seized drugs from a hotel room in Palanpur town where he was staying.

However, the Rajasthan police later said Rajpurohit was falsely implicated by the Banaskantha police to compel him to transfer a disputed property located at Pali in Rajasthan.

Former police inspector I B Vyas moved the Gujarat High Court in 1999 demanding a thorough inquiry into the matter.

In June last year, the high court handed over the probe to the state CID, and Bhatt was arrested in September.

On February 8, the apex court had refused to entertain Bhatt's plea seeking security for his family and had directed him to approach the high court.

On October 4 last year, the apex court had dismissed his wife Shweta Bhatt's plea, challenging the police probe and his judicial custody in a 23-year-old case.

She had unsuccessfully contested assembly election as a Congress party candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Maninagar constituency in Ahmedabad in 2012.