Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Palanpur, March 28

A sessions court in Palanpur in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district on Thursday sentenced former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in a 1996 case involving planting of drugs to frame a lawyer.

Bhatt, who is already behind bars in a custodial death case, was held guilty of falsely implicating a Rajasthan-based lawyer by claiming, in 1996, that police had seized drugs from a hotel room in Palanpur where the lawyer was staying.

Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, was serving as the superintendent of police of Banaskantha district at the time.

Additional District and Sessions Judge J N Thakkar convicted Bhatt on Wednesday under relevant Sections of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Indian Penal Code. The quantum of punishment was announced on Thursday.