Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has sought to transfer the investigation of a case registered against him for allegedly hacking the email account of the state governments additional advocate general Tushar Mehta outside Gujarat. A bench of Supreme Court comprising Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai has issued notices to the respondents in the petition and kept it for further hearing after four weeks. In his complaint,Mehta had accused Bhatt of hacking his email account and sharing the information with others for ulterior motive. These communications contain my personal,official,and legal correspondences which were not only unauthorisedly seen by Bhatt but also shared with others for ulterior motive,which,apart from being a criminal offence,violates my right of privacy, he stated in the complaint. The case is registered with the Vastrapur Police Station. Bhatts lawyer I H Syed said they moved the petition in the SC seeking transfer of investigation in the case outside Gujarat and preferably by Central Bureau of Investigation. The court has issued notices to the respondents (Union of India,Gujarat government,CBI and Tushar Mehta) and made it returnable after four weeks, Syed said. Bhatt has cited the allegedly biased approach of the Narendra Modi-led state government to seek the transfer of the case investigation outside Gujarat. Bhatt was arrested and later freed on bail in another case registered against him for forcing a constable to sign an affidavit to corroborate his presence at a meeting called by Modi on February 27,2002. In the said meeting,Bhatt has alleged,Modi gave instructions to top officers to let Hindus vent their anger against Muslims. Bhatts petition to transfer this case outside Gujarat is also pending before the SC.
