The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday granted 10-day police custody of sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was arrested in a 22-year-old drug planting case. The police had moved the HC after the remand plea was turned down by a lower court. They contended that his custody was needed since the case involved planting of opium, abduction and framing of the victim.
The lower court had in Banaskantha refused to grant remand of Mr. Bhatt and another retired police official I.B. Vyas, who was inspector when the alleged crime was committed in 1996 when Mr. Bhatt was Banaskantha Superintendent of Police.
Justice R.P. Dholaria accepted the prosecution’s contention that the case is being probed at the instance of the High Court itself and therefore considering the seriousness of the crime, it needed the custody of the accused.