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Bhatt been a prominent critic of former Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. In a 2011 petition, he accused Modi of encouraging the 2002 communal violence.

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The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to suspend the 20-year prison term handed to former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a 1996 drug-planting case, Live Law reported.

Bhatt, who is already serving a life sentence in an unrelated 1990 custodial death case, had sought suspension of the sentence before a bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi.

Kapil Sibal, appearing for Bhatt, told the court his client had “already served seven years and three months” of the term and urged the judges to grant relief. The bench suggested Bhatt could instead push for an expedited hearing of his appeal. Sibal countered that Bhatt had completed “more than half” of the sentence.

The judges noted that the alleged drug quantity was significant, saying the case involved “5 kilograms.” Sibal disputed this, arguing the prosecution had failed to prove that figure and that Bhatt’s conviction concerned possession of “1.015 kg of opium,” which he said was not a commercial quantity under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Maninder Singh, representing the state, argued that Bhatt who was then a deputy superintendent of police, conspired to obtain opium and plant it in a guest house to implicate the complainant. 

Bhatt even handed a constable money to buy the narcotics, Singh told the court.

The bench said it was “not inclined” to grant the request and dismissed the application.

Case background

Bhatt was arrested in 2018 after Rajasthan lawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohit alleged that Bhatt and others planted opium at a Palanpur hotel in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district in 1996. At the time, Bhatt was the district superintendent of police. A co-accused officer, Inspector I.B. Vyas, turned approver in 2021.

Prosecutors say Bhatt and his colleagues staged the operation to frame the lawyer under the NDPS Act.

Bhatt has also been a prominent critic of former Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. In a 2011 petition, he accused Modi of encouraging the 2002 communal violence, claiming he attended a February 27, 2002 meeting where Modi allegedly told police officials to “allow Hindus to vent their anger.”