Supreme Court Adjourns Sanjiv Bhatt's Plea To Adduce Additional Evidence In Custodial Death Case To April 18

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, granted time to the State of Gujarat to file its counter affidavit in a plea filed by former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt seeking to adduce additional evidence in the criminal appeal filed by him in the Gujarat High Court challenging his conviction in a 1990 custodial death case.

A Bench comprising Justice MR Shah and Justice CT Ravikumar adjourned the hearing till 18.04.2023. It directed the State of Gujarat to file its counter affidavit by 11.04.2023 and the rejoined by Bhatt by 17.04.2023. At the request of Senior Advocate, Atmaram Nadkarni appearing for the complainant, his impleadment application was allowed. The Bench noted that since the complainant was heard by the High Court his impleadment application is being allowed by the Apex Court. Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared for the State of Gujarat.

Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat appearing for Bhatt apprised the Bench that the Gujarat Government has not filed it counter affidavit despite seeking adjournment on several occasions. He submitted, "See the conduct of other side. 5 times they sought for time to file affidavit and today they seek further time. See the mischief.” 

In July 2019, the Sessions Court at Jamnagar in Gujarat had sentenced Bhatt to life imprisonment after finding him guilty for the custodial death of one Prabhudas Madhavji Vaishnani in 1990. Before the trial court, he had filed an application to produce expert evidence of one doctor to support his argument that the death of Prabhudas was not due to the alleged sit ups he was made to do forcefully by the police. The trial court had rejected the application. In the criminal appeal before the Gujarat High Court Bhatt filed an application under Section 391 Cr.P.C. seeking to adduce expert evidence. On 24.08.2022, the application was dismissed. The same has now been challenged before the Apex Court.

In April 2011, Bhatt had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court accusing the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 riots. He claimed to have attended a meeting convened by the then CM, Mr. Modi, on February 27, 2002, the day of the communal riots, when instructions were allegedly given to the State Police to not take any action against the perpetrators of violence.

The Court appointed SIT however gave clean chit to Modi. In 2015, Bhatt was removed from the police service, on the ground of "unauthorised absence".

In October 2015, the Supreme Court dismissed Bhatt's plea for constituting a special investigation team (SIT) for cases filed against him by the Gujarat Government.

[Case Title: Sanjiv Kumar Rajendrabhai Bhatt v. State of Gujarat SLP(Crl) No. 9445/2022]