Ahmedabad:
The Gujarat government has suspended whistleblower police officer Sanjeev Bhatt. The 1988- batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer has been served a five-page suspension letter by the state Home Department, charging him of unauthorised absence.
Mr Bhatt is already facing departmental proceedings which were initiated against him a few months ago. Director General of Police (DGP) Chitaranjan Singh had shot off a letter to him in March alleging that he was not attending to his duties at the Junagadh State Reserve Police (SRP) Chowki, where he is posted. Mr Bhatt had replied to the notices claiming that he was on leave for his mothers operation and had reported to duty after his leave.
The DGP's office had also issued him a notice for keeping the state security personnel from the SRP chowki for his personal use without any authorisation, a charge Mr Bhatt denied.
The suspension order comes just three days after Mr Bhatt told the Supreme Court that the state government, which is meant to prosecute those accused of the communal riots of 2002, has actually been leaking information for use in their defence. In an affidavit filed in the apex court on Friday, Mr Bhatt included emails that allegedly show how the state government was sharing information with the lawyers of some of those accused in the riots.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed a few years ago by the Supreme Court to investigate the riots.
Mr Bhatt said he has emails that show classified parts of the SIT were being emailed to Tushar Mehta, who is the Additional Advocate General of Gujarat. According to the policeman, Mr Mehta, who is meant to be handling the prosecution in different cases related to the riots, then forwarded emails containing the SIT excerpts to Gurumurthy Swaminathan, who is an RSS ideologue. Mr Gurumurthy then forwarded the information to lawyer Ram Jethmalani and his son, Mahesh, who represents former state Home Minister Amit Shah.
Along with other ministers and Mr Modi, Mr Shah is being investigated for whether they misused government machinery during the riots. Mr Mehta also shared the information, according to Mr Bhatt's affidavit, with lawyers for others accused in the riots.
Mr Mehta and Mr Bhatt were close friends. The lawyer allegedly gave the policeman access to his mail because they were planning family vacations together.
Mr Bhatt has made headlines in the last few months after he told the Supreme Court that he attended a meeting on February 27, 2002 which was chaired by Chief Minister Narendra Modi. 59 people had been killed by now in a train near Godhra; most of them were kar-sevaks on their way back from Ayodhya. Communal tension was surging through the state. Mr Bhatt was posted with the State Intelligence Bureau at the time. He says the Chief Minister told the policemen to remain indifferent to calls of help from those being attacked by rioters. Mr Bhatt recalls Mr Modi saying that it was imperative for Hindus to be allowed to 'vent out their anger.'
Mr Modi and other policemen who attended the meeting said Mr Bhatt was not present.
Mr Bhatt claims that he shared this information with the SIT set up by the Supreme Court to investigate the riots. The SIT, he says, showed little interest on following up on his allegations.
A few months ago, a criminal case was filed against Mr Bhatt by another police officer who says Mr Bhatt forced him to testify that Mr Bhatt attended Mr Modi's meeting with policemen in February 2002. Mr Bhatt wants his case to be transferred out of Gujarat.
Sources close to Bhatt reveal that the IPS officer could soon approach the SC again claiming that the government was victimising him.