SC refuses to entertain Sanjiv Bhatt's plea for security to his family

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea by sacked Gujarat cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt seeking security for his family after his wife met with an accident recently.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer asked Bhatt to approach the Gujarat High Court with his plea for the necessary relief.

The bench said that it is not expressing any opinion on the merit of the case.

Bhatt has sought security for his family after his wife Shweta Bhatt, who was travelling with their son, met with an accident on January 7.

The two had sustained minor injuries in the incident in which their car was also damaged but they refused to lodge FIR. 

On October 4 last year, the apex court had dismissed Shweta's plea challenging the police probe and his judicial custody in a 22-year-old case of alleged planting of drugs to arrest an advocate, and said he could approach an "appropriate forum" for relief. The apex court had held it was not appropriate for it to interfere in the ongoing investigation.

Bhatt was suspended in 2011 on charges of remaining absent from duty without permission and misuse of official vehicles and later sacked in August 2015.

Bhatt and seven others, including some former policemen attached with the Banaskantha Police, were initially detained for questioning in the case. Bhat was  Banaskantha district superintendent of police in 1996.

According to the police, Banaskantha Police under Bhatt arrested an advocate called Sumersingh Rajpurohit in 1996 on charges of possessing around 1 kg of drugs.

At the time, Banaskantha Police claimed that drugs were found in a hotel room occupied by Rajpurohit in the district's Palanpur town.

However, a probe by Rajasthan Police concluded that Rajpurohit was allegedly falsely implicated by Banaskantha Police to compel him to transfer a disputed property at Pali in Rajasthan.

It also claimed to have found that Rajpurohit was allegedly abducted by Banaskantha Police from his residence at Pali.

Following the Rajasthan Police investigation, former inspector of Banaskantha I B Vyas moved the Gujarat High Court in 1999 demanding a thorough inquiry into the matter.

In June last year, the high court handed over the probe in the case to the CID while hearing the petition and had asked it to complete the probe in three months. Bhatt's wife Shweta had unsuccessfully contested assembly election as a Congress party candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Maninagar constituency in Ahmedabad in 2012.