No respite for Sanjiv Bhatt as HC rejects his bail plea

In yet another setback for ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday rejected his bail petition in Jamnagar custodial death case in which he was recently sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court.

Bhatt had moved the high court challenging the sentencing and had sought suspension of sentence.

The division bench of justices Bela Trivedi and A C Rao after hearing the arguments for two days pronounced the order refusing to grant any relief to Bhatt, who has been languishing in jail since his arrest on September 5 last year.

Bhatt's lawyers had argued that the Jamnagar trial court's order is faulty as there is no case made out by the prosecution.

The state government opposed the bail plea and argued that the trial court had rightly arrived at the conclusion that Bhatt was responsible for the custodial death.

The court also denied bail to retired policeman Pravinsinh Jhala who was also sentenced to life along with Bhatt on June 21.

The court had held Bhatt and Jhala guilty of killing Vaishnani and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

The other policemen including Dipak Shah, Shailesh Pandya, Pravin Jadeja, Anupsinh Jethva, and Kesubhai Jadeja were sentenced to two years imprisonment for custodial torture and criminal intimidation.

The incident had happened in October 1990 when Bhatt was posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police in Jamnagar.

Bhatt is currently facing trial in a Palanpur court where he is alleged to have framed a Rajasthan-based lawyer in a narcotics case.