BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: Shweta Bhatt, the wife of suspended IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt, wrote another letter to Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday saying that her husband is being treated like a terrorist. Bhatt said that she fears for her husband’s life and that the Gujarat government is doing all that it can to deny bail.
Bhatt had also written a letter to Chidambaram on September 3, appealing to ‘ensure the safety’ of her husband. The Home Ministry had responded to her letter and had asked the Gujarat Government to ensure that security is provided to Bhatt and his family.
Earlier today, a court in Ahmedabad ruled that Bhatt is entitled to apply for bail. The Gujarat Police had challenged this on the grounds that it has filed a parallel case that asks for Bhatt’s custody. Whether Bhatt leaves jail will be decided on Friday.
Bhatt was arrested on September 30 for coercing a constable to back his testimony against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Bhatt has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, alleging Modi of complicity in the riots that took place in Gujarat in 2002.
As part of his affidavit, Bhatt included a statement from KD Pant, a junior officer. Pant’s statement supported Bhatt’s claim that he was present at a meeting on February 27, 2002, when Modi asked senior policemen to go slow on rioters. Other policemen who attended that meeting on record have said Bhatt was not present. Pant’s statement said the opposite. Later, Pant said that he had been threatened by Bhatt into supporting him.
The Congress party and activists in Gujarat accuse the Modi government of using the state machinery to persecute the police officer.
