Sanjiv Bhatt case: SC seeks Gujarat government's response
New Delhi, Sep 24: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Gujarat government's response on a plea by the wife of dismissed IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, alleging that she is compelled to move the court as her husband is being prevented from doing so.
Describing the allegation by Shweta Bhatt that her husband was not being allowed to sign 'vakalatnama' and other documents necessary for approaching the court as "very serious", the bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Navin Sinha asked the Gujarat government to respond.
"This is something very serious, a person not being allowed to come to the court. His wife is being compelled to come," Justice Gogoi said.
"Before we go into the merits of the case, we would like the State of Gujarat to respond to the allegations," the court ordered.
Shweta Bhatt alleged that her husband had been taken into custody "in the most arbitrary manner" and he had also been taken on Police Custody Remand.
He was not being allowed to execute 'vakalatnama' and other documents required to file the present Special Leave Petition.
Asking senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, representing Gujarat, to respond, the court ordered that the affidavit of Gujarat be filed on or before Friday and Shweta Bhatt ,if required, may respond to it.
The court directed the hearing of the matter on October 4.
Sanjiv Bhatt was arrested by the CID Crime Branch of Gujarat Police on September 5 in connection with a 1996 case allegedly framing a Rajasthan-based lawyer, Sumer Singh Rajpurohit, in a narcotics peddling case.
Bhatt was serving as the District Superintendent of Police in Banaskantha district when the lawyer was booked under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The Rajasthan Police claimed that this was done to compel the lawyer to let go a disputed property in Pali district.
The Rajasthan Police also claimed that Rajpurohit was abducted by police from his residence at Pali.
Following this investigation, former Banaskantha Police Inspector I.B. Vyas had moved the Gujarat High Court in 1999 demanding a detailed probe into the incident.
Bhatt was dismissed from service in 2015 for "unauthorized absence" from service.
The Gujarat High Court had on September 11 sent Bhatt and retired police officer I.B. Vyas to 10 days police custody.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
