Court rejects police remand of Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt
Palanpur (Gujarat), Sep 7: A court here on Thursday rejected the Gujarat Police plea seeking remand of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and sent him to judicial custody in connection with a 22-year-old case of alleged planting of drugs to arrest a man.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police had picked up Bhatt and then inspector of Palanpur police station I.B. Vyas on Wednesday.
The CID produced them before Additional Judicial Magistrate V.R. Charan here in Banaskantha district, seeking their 14-day custody.
Arguing against the plea for remand, the defence lawyers pointed out that the case was over two decades old and a petition related to it was pending before the Supreme Court.
The magistrate accepted the arguments and rejected the CID's demand, and sent both the accused to judicial custody at the Palanpur sub-jail.
Bhatt was Banaskantha district superintendent of police in 1996 when the alleged incident occurred. According to details, the Banaskantha police arrested Sumersingh Rajpurohit, a lawyer, on charges of possessing around one kilogram of opium.
Police claimed the drug was found in a hotel room rented by Rajpurohit at Palanpur.
But later a probe revealed that Rajpurohit was falsely implicated by the police to pressurise him to vacate a disputed property in Pali, his hometown in Rajasthan.
Following complaints, the Gujarat High Court in June handed over the case to the CID and asked it to complete the investigation within three months.
CID officials told reporters on Wednesday that the former IPS officer and others allegedly hatched the conspiracy to arrest Rajpurohit by planting drugs on him, so as to force him to vacate the disputed property.
Bhatt, who has often criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots, was sacked by the Union Home Ministry in August 2015 for "unauthorised absence" from service.
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BJP councillor dies by suicide after being threatened by youths following party's bypoll win
Agartala (PTI): A BJP councillor of Dharmanagar Municipal Council (DMC) in North Tripura died by suicide on Tuesday after he was allegedly threatened and humiliated by a group of youth following the saffron party's victory in the Dharmanagar bypoll, police said.
Rahul Kishore Roy, who was also the BJP's Yuva Morcha mandal president, took the extreme step a day after BJP candidate Jahar Chakraborti won the bypoll for the Dharmagar Assembly constituency by a massive margin.
Chief Minister Manik Saha expressed shock over the youth leader's death and assured an impartial inquiry into the allegations brought by the deceased’s wife, Ananya Bhattacharjee.
"I am shocked by the untimely death of Rahul Kishore Roy. May his soul rest in peace, and also offer my sympathy to the bereaved family. I also assured that an impartial inquiry will be conducted following the complaint of the deceased's wife", the CM wrote on Facebook.
Roy's wife has lodged a complaint with the local police station, holding seven persons responsible for her husband's death.
"Soon after the announcement of the results of the bypoll to the Dharmagnar Assembly bypoll, six to seven youths attacked our residence at Chandrapur at 3 pm and started hurling abuses at my husband. They also assaulted me to hand over my husband to them," she stated in the complaint.
Ananya said, "The same gang returned late at night again, attacked our house and hurled two or three bombs. They also threatened to eliminate my husband whenever he is found at Dharmanagar."
Deeply upset by the attacks and threats, my husband committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling early Tuesday morning. I urge the Officer in Charge (OC), Dharmanagar police station, to investigate against these people for justice, she said.
"Based on a specific complaint, we have registered a case, and an investigation is underway. No one has been arrested yet," SP, North Tripura, Avinash Kumar Rai said.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the state’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416.)
