A special NDPS court in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district on Thursday sentenced former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years of imprisonment in a case of alleged drug planting dating back to 1996.
Special Public Prosecutor Amit Patel said the court of additional sessions judge JN Thakkar sentenced Bhatt to 20 years’ imprisonment under NDPS sections 21(c), 27A (punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders) along with a fine of Rs 2 lakh under each of the two offences.
The Court on Wednesday had held Bhatt guilty under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act sections 21(c), 27A (punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders), 29 (abetment and criminal conspiracy to commit offence under NDPS Act), 58 (1) and (2) (vexatious entry, search, seizure and arrest).
He has also been held guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 465 (forgery), 471 (using forged document), 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 204 (secrets or destroys any document), 343 (wrongful confinement), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intent).
This is the second conviction of the former IPS officer in a criminal case. In 2019, Bhatt was sentenced to life imprisonment in a case of alleged custodial death in Jamnagar, dating back to 1990. The Gujarat High Court in January upheld the conviction in the case, rejecting Bhatt’s appeal against the trial court’s decision.
In 1996, Bhatt was serving as the superintendent of police of Banaskantha when the district police arrested lawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohit, a resident of Pali in Rajasthan, for allegedly keeping 1.15 kg of opium at a Palanpur hotel in 1996.
