Sanjiv Bhatt
TNN | Apr 5, 2013, 03.23 AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Suspended IPS officer SanjivBhatt has moved Gujarat high court seeking permission to place as evidence the case diary of a terrorism-related case to defend himself in a custodial torture case in Porbandar.

Bhatt, along with a constable, Vajubhai Chau, is being tried for the custodial torture of a known history-sheeter Naran Sudha, who was taken to Porbandar from Sabarmati Central Jail in 1998 in connection with investigations of a Tada case. Bhatt was posted as superintendent of police in Porbandar then.

Three accused persons in the Tada case were witnesses in this case. During the trial, Bhatt submitted before the trial court that the case diary of the investigating officer of the Tada offence should be placed and the IO should be made an independent witness in this case. The lower court rejected Bhatt’s request, stating that the case diary is for the perusal for the court and IO only; and an accused cannot access it.

Bhatt questioned this decision of the lower court through advocate I H Syed, who contended that the case diary belonged to another offence, in which the suspended IPS is not an accused. Since both offences were separate, the case diary could be placed so that Bhatt could highlight contradictions.

Bhatt was booked under sections 330 and 324 of the IPC, on allegations that he tortured the accused with electric shocks in order to extract a confession in the Tada case. His counsel Syed said that Jadav has been booked for 24 offences like murder, arms act violations, Tada, RDX landings and for waging war against the nation.

“He is a security suspect in the Union war book. Still, the state government is trying to persecute its own officer and defend the history-sheeter, although this is a private complaint,” the lawyer said.

This case will continue on Friday before Justice S R Brahmbhatt.

Bhatt also faces trial in an alleged police atrocity case in Jamnagar. One person had died in this case in 1990. The trial against Bhatt began after the state government withdrew its protection after the cop implicated chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots.