A special NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) Court sentenced former IPS Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years of jail and a fine of ₹2 lakh in a case of alleged drug planting.
Bhatt was convicted in the NDPS case at an additional sessions court on Mar 27 in Palanpur.
A complaint was filed in 1996 against Bhatt, the then Banaskantha superintendent of police (SP), for conspiring to frame an advocate from Rajasthan’s Pali, Sumer Singh Rajpurohit, by planting drugs in his hotel room in Palanpur.
After Rajpurohit’s arrest, Rajasthan police accused Bhatt of framing a conspiracy.
Rajpurohit filed a complaint, accusing Bhatt of framing him in an ongoing land dispute in Rajasthan.
In 2018, CID Crime arrested Bhatt and the then police inspector (PI) IB Vyas of Palanpur in the case.
However, the Palanpur court later allowed PI Vyas to be acquitted by making him a witness. Bhatt had also filed an application in the Palanpur court seeking permission to call some witnesses from his side in this case.
Bhatt was sacked from his post in 2015.
On Bhatt’s conviction, his wife, Shweta Bhatt, remarked, “Sanjiv Bhatt has no role in this case. This case is falsely forged. There has been a miscarriage of justice in this case.”