IPS Bhatt held for false affidavit-The Pioneer-1.10.11

RATHIN DAS

ASSISTANT INTELLIGENCE OFFICER KARANSINH PANTH COMPLAINED THAT SANJEEV BHATT HAD FORCED HIM TO SIGN FALSE AFFIDAVITS IN POST-GODHRA RIOTS CASES
Controversial, suspended and chargesheeted IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt, who had a running feud with Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the last few months, was arrested on Friday evening for wrongful confinement of his subordinate, threatening him and fabricating false evidence.
Bhatt was picked up from his residence in Gurukul area around 3.45 pm on Friday and brought to Ghatlodiya Police Station for questioning. After hours of grilling, he was formally arrested around 6.10 pm. Late on Friday, the police raided his residence.
The IPS officer has been charged under IPC sections 189, 193, 195, 341 and 342 pertaining to wrongful confinement of public servant, threatening and fabricating false affidavits. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court granted relief to senior Gujarat cadre IAS officer, Pradeep Sharma, a known Modi-baiter. A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai took an undertaking from the State Government counsel that it will not proceed against Sharma in a Bhuj court, where he was tried for embezzlement during his tenure as District Collector.
Bhatt's arrest was made fol lowing a complaint from his lowing a complaint from his 2002 subordinate, Assistant Intelligence Officer Karan sinh Panth that the IPS offi cer had made him sign a false affidavit the night before Supreme Court's amicus curiae Raju Ramchandran was to Ramchandran was to arrive here in June to probe the post-Godhra riots cases. In his FIR lodged at Ghatlodiya Police Station, Panth said Bhatt had wanted him to retract the statement he made to SIT in April this year. Panth was the Assistant Intelligence Officer in 2002 when Bhatt was the Deputy SP in the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB).
Bhatt has claimed that Panth and driver Tarachand Yadav had gone to the Chief Minister's residence along with him on the night of February 27, 2002 when Modi allegedly instructed the cops to go slow against the rioters.
While driver Tarachand Yadav endorsed Bhatt's version, Panth filed the complaint saying he was coerced to make the affidavit. Panth also said that he was forcibly taken to Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia's house where he was told that the days of the Modi Government are numbered and thus he should sign the false affidavits corroborating the sequence of events on the night of Feb 27, 2002.
Bhatt’s lawyer Iqbal Syed called the arrest a politically motivated conspiracy and said that he would move the courts for bail as these charges are bailable offences.
The advocate sought to link the arrest to Bhatt’s affidavit in the High Court in which he has claimed to have come across evidence of some high ups in the State having been involved with the murder of former Minister of State Haren Pandya in March 2003.
Iqbal Syed said that the police have deliberately chosen Friday evening for Bhatt’s arrest so that he cannot get bail as the apex court would be on a week’s vacation.