Gujarat riots forgery case: dismissed IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt remanded in police custody till July 20

Case relates to alleged evidence fabrication to implicate Modi, others

A local court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday remanded former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in police custody till July 20 in the forgery and evidence fabrication case related to the 2002 riots in Gujarat. 

Mr. Bhatt was arrested through transfer warrant on Tuesday and produced before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate on Wednesday. 

The police sought 14-day remand of Mr. Bhatt to find out the alleged conspiracy he and two other accused, social activist Teesta Setalvad and former DGP R.B. Sreekumar, hatched to target top functionaries, including the then Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. 

In the remand application, the investigating officer stated that a 14-day custody was required to question Mr. Bhatt about his intention behind making false claims about attending a late-night meeting on February 27, 2002, allegedly called by Mr. Modi at his residence after the Godhra train burning incident in which 59 karsevaks had died.

The investigating officer also told the court that the police wanted to question Mr. Bhatt regarding when he came in touch with the other two accused, namely Ms. Setalvad and Mr. Sreekumar, and how and where they prepared “false documents as part of a criminal conspiracy to frame innocent people”.

Advocate Anand Yagnik, appearing for Mr. Bhatt, submitted that the Supreme Court-appointed SIT had already probed the role of Mr. Bhatt and now no further probe was required after a period of eight to 10 years. 

He also submitted that the Supreme Court observations in the judgment delivered on June 24, 2022, were not directives and binding on the police to lodge criminal proceedings against Mr. Bhatt.