Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt who took on Gujarat govt asked to explain 'sex video'

Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who has locked horns with Gujarat government over 2002 riots, has been served with a show-cause notice on the basis of a video clip to explain his alleged “illicit relationship” with an unknown woman, a charge denied by him. Along with the notice served to Bhatt by the Gujarat Home department on August 14, it is learnt that the video CD has also been sent to him. Bhatt, a 1988 batch IPS officer, has been under suspension since 2011. [caption id=“attachment_2396808” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. Image courtesy: IBNLive[/caption] The notice mentioned that the alleged clip has been examined by Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) under the state Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS), which said in its report that the CD is authentic and no tampering has been done. On receiving the notice along with CD, Bhatt sent his written reply on August 15 in which he stated that the person in the CD is not him. “I sent my reply to the Home Department on 15 August. I told them that the person in the video is not me, but someone who bears a general resemblance to me,” said Bhatt.

According to Bhatt, one Tejendra Pal Bagga, a self-styled leader of an outfit that supports Modi, had posted the clip in May last year. Bagga is the same person who had barged into the chamber of activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan and assaulted him two years ago, a report in The Telegraph said. “Look at the timing,” Bhatt, who replied to the notice the same day he received it, said. “My petition pertaining to criminal nexus between the chief minister’s office, law officer and the SIT is coming up for hearing tomorrow. They have come up with this showcause notice to prejudice the judiciary against me.” He further clarified in his reply that “closer examination reveals striking differences in facial features, including the shape and size of the nose, forehead and ears…There are many other significant differences in the body shape, structure, body hair, balding pattern, shape of fingers, etc.” He also raised questions on the FSL findings, which the Home Department cited in the notice served to him. “It is apparent that the results of FSL examination, suggesting positive identity between me and the person in the said video clipping, are based on grossly insufficient comparison data,” Bhatt replied. He further requested a detailed and scientific examination to dispel any doubts. “In order to dispel any doubts, I am willing to submit myself to Detailed Biometric Examination and Analysis at the DFS of any other facility…So as to facilitate proper and conclusive comparison between me and the person in the said video,” he said in his reply to the Home Department.

Bhatt took on the Gujarat government when Narendra Modi was Chief Minister by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court, in which he alleged that Modi had instructed officers to allow Hindus “to vent out their anger” during the 2002 post-Godhra riots. Bhatt’s wife Shweta Bhatt had unsuccessfully contested against Modi when he was the Chief Minister in the 2012 Assembly Elections. The suspended DIG came to loggerheads with the then Narendra Modi-government in Gujarat after he filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in 2011 and claimed that he was in the meeting on February 27, 2002 when the then Chief Minister Modi asked officials to allow the Hindus to vent their anger. He also accused the SC-appointed SIT, which probes the 2002 riots, of being partial and indulging in cover-up operation. Bhatt was suspended first for remaining absent from the place of his posting at Junagadh police training college. With inputs from PTI