File photo of Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court today dismissed Gujarat police officer Sanjiv Bhatt's plea seeking a court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team into the two cases lodged against him.
The trial against Mr Bhatt, which had been put on hold, will proceed "expeditiously", said a bench comprising Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra.
The former officer was pulled up today by the Court, which said he had not come with "clean hands". The court rebuked him for contacting the Congress - the opposition party in Gujarat -- non-profits and activists to influence it and dismissed his petition which sought a court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team into the charges against him.
"No case is made out to constitute SIT," the court said. "No doubt 'be you ever so high, the law is above you' is a well-accepted principle, but in the case, the conduct of the petitioner cannot be said to be above board. Neither can it be said he has come to the court with clean hands."
One of the cases against Mr Bhatt was based on a complaint lodged by Gujarat Police constable KD Panth in Ahmedabad, alleging that he had pressurised him to sign an affidavit testifying the then officer had participated in a high-level meeting after the Godhra carnage.
In another. he has been accused of allegedly hacking then state's Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta's e-mail account.
The former officer -- dismissed from service on August 18 -- had also sought a probe into the role of Amit Shah in Shorabuddin fake encounter. This petition was rejected too.
On September 23, the top court had reserved its verdict after Gujarat government had rubbished the claim of Mr Bhatt that he was present at a meeting to discuss law and order situation during the 2002 communal violence at residence of the then Chief Minister.
Today, the court said, "He had exchanged e-mails with rival political party leaders and was being tutored by the lawyer of NGO and its activist... The petitioner has even sent e-mails to influence the judicial proceedings of a 3-Judge Bench of this court and has tried to influence the amicus curiae."
The court said Mr Bhatt's allegation that the Special Investigating Team appointed to probe the 2002 Gujarat riots cases had been leaking sensitive and confidential details, was totally "false and baseless".