Bhatt has alleged that SIT probe details on riot cases were leaked to a top law officer of the State government.
In his 19-page supplementary affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, Bhatt alleged that someone from within the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was leaking sensitive and confidential details related to investigations conducted by it to Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta.
Mr. Bhatt had earlier filed a petition in the Supreme Court a couple of months back
In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, Mr Bhatt has included emails that allegedly show how the state government was sharing information with the lawyers of some of those accused in the riots.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed a few years ago by the Supreme Court to investigate the riots.
Mr Bhatt claimed that he had emails that show classified parts of the SIT were being emailed to Tushar Mehta, who is the Additional Advocate General of Gujarat.
He said that Mr Mehta, who is meant to be handling the prosecution in different cases related to the riots, then forwarded emails containing the SIT excerpts to Gurumurthy Swaminathan, who is an RSS ideologue. Mr Gurumurthy then forwarded the information to lawyer Ram Jethmalani and his son, Mahesh, who represents Amit Shah.
At the time of the riots, Mr Shah was the Home Minister for Gujarat. Along with other ministers and Mr Modi, he is being investigated for whether they misused government machinery during the riots. Mr Mehta also shared the information, according to Mr Bhatt’s affidavit, with lawyers for others accused in the riots.
Interestingly Mehta and Bhatt were close friends. The lawyer allegedly gave the policeman access to his mail because they were planning family vacations together.
A case has been registered against Bhatt after a complaint was lodged against him by the Additional Advocate General of Gujarat High Court accusing him of hacking his e-mails.
“An FIR has been registered (under the Information Technology Act-2008) at the Vastrapur police station, and investigations are underway,” said a police official.
Earlier Bhatt told the Supreme Court that he attended a meeting on February 27, 2002 which was chaired by Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He accused Modi of misusing state machinery against Muslims during the post-Godhra riots.
59 people had been killed by in a train near Godhra; most of them were kar-sevaks on their way back from Ayodhya.
In his petition he accused Chief Minister Narendra Modi of asking policemen to ignore calls for help during the riots, which killed over 1000 people.
Mr Bhatt was posted with the State Intelligence Bureau at the time. He says the Chief Minister told the policemen to remain indifferent to calls of help from those being attacked by rioters. Mr Bhatt recalls Mr Modi saying that it was imperative for Hindus to be allowed to ‘vent out their anger.’
