Court reserves order on Bhatt's bail plea till Oct 17

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A local court here on Monday reserved the order on bail plea of the suspended and arrested IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt till October 17.

Sessions Judge V K Vyas, after hearing the arguments of special public prosecutor S V Raju and Bhatt's advocate I H Syed, reserved the order on bail till October 17.

During the hearing, which was stretched over a week's period, Bhatt's advocate Syed contended that his client's arrest was politically motivated.

He argued that the arrest was also aimed at getting hold of and destroying the alleged evidence he had, against the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with regard to the 2002 communal riots.

Syed had further contended that the complaint, on which Bhatt was arrested, was false and filed with an ulterior motive, at the behest of some political functionaries and senior police officers.

He had said that the complainant K D Pant, who had alleged that Bhatt had threatened him and forced him to sign false affidavits, appeared to be enacting a ploy at the dictates of political members of the state government.

Syed said that most of the sections of IPC, under which, Bhatt was charged were bailable and he should be given bail.

State government's senior counsel Raju, while opposing Bhatt's bail contended that Bhatt did not deserve bail, as he was a habitual offender with criminal antecedents.

To support his claims, Raju highlighted other criminal cases against him in various courts, which included case of police torture in custody, registered in 1994 in Porbandar, and a case under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act, which is pending against Bhatt in Pali, Rajasthan since 1996.

Raju further said that prima facie, there was a case made out against Bhatt, which is punishable upto life imprisonment.

He also alleged that Bhatt had tried to evade the process of law by not cooperating with the investigation in the case against him and not remaining present before the investigation officer despite being summoned four times.

He further accused Bhatt of tampering with the evidence. Raju also alleged that Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhvadia was involved in the offence with Bhatt.

He said that Modhvadia had pressurised Pant by calling him up, when he was in the advocate's office, who had prepared the affidavits, on which, Pant was allegedly made to sign.

Raju said that the hobnobbing of Bhatt with opposition party -- Congress, clearly showed his intentions and based on this, Bhatt filed an affidavit with false contents in the apex court with the purpose to arraign Modi in an offence under section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In the court, Raju had also argued that Modi had nothing to do with the FIR against Bhatt and not at all connected with the case.

Bhatt is presently in jail after being arrested on September 30 in connection with an FIR filed against him by a police constable K D Pant for allegedly threatening him and making him sign a false affidavit with regard to the IPS officer's presence in the February 27, 2002 meeting called by Chief Minister Narendra Modi after the Godhra train burning incident.

He had moved a bail application on October 3, which was opposed by the state government.