WEB DESK
Sacked Gujarat police officer Sanjiv Bhatt has been arrested today by the Gujarat CID in connection with a 22-year-old case of alleged planting of drugs to arrest a man, police said.
Sanjiv Bhatt was in August 2015 sacked by the union home ministry on grounds of “unauthorised absence” from service. He has been a vocal critic of the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media platforms.
Mr Bhatt and seven others, including some former policemen attached with the Banaskantha Police, were initially detained for questioning in the case.
Shortly after being questioned, Mr Bhatt was arrested by the Crime Investigation Department, while others are still kept under detention, Director General of Police, CID, Ashish Bhatia said.
Mr Bhatt was the Banaskantha district superintendent of police in 1996. He was dismissed from the service in 2015.
As per the case details, the Banaskantha Police under Mr Bhatt had arrested one Sumersingh Rajpurohit, an advocate, in 1996 on charges of possessing around one kg of drugs.
At that time, the Banaskantha Police had claimed that drugs were found in a hotel room occupied by Mr Rajpurohit in the district’s Palanpur town.
However, a probe by the Rajasthan Police had revealed that Mr Rajpurohit was allegedly falsely implicated by the Banaskantha Police to compel him to transfer a disputed property at Pali in Rajasthan.
It had also found that Rajpurohit was allegedly kidnapped by the Banaskantha Police from his residence at Pali in Rajasthan.
विजय संकल्प अनिश्चितक़ालीन उपवास आंदोलन के पाँचवे दिन पूर्व IPS अधिकारी @sanjivbhatt छावनी पर उपस्थित रहे,@sanjivbhatt ने कहाँ की पुलिस अपनी ईमानदारी और फ़र्ज़ भूल रही हैं।गुजरात की पुलिस ने जनता का भरोसा तोड़ा हैं। pic.twitter.com/AyVl4kjjP4
— Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) August 29, 2018