Govt cites Bhatt’s ‘criminal mindset’ to oppose his bail plea

IO N C Patel said this while making every effort to see that the court does not hear the bail petition till there was a decision on his remand.

To elaborate Bhatt’s alleged criminal mindset,Patel cited four criminal cases pending against him in three different places in Gujarat and one in Rajasthan. The cases include the alleged custodial torture and murder of Prabhudas Vaishnani in Jamnagar,custodial torture of Naran Jadav in Porbandar,hacking into the email account of Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta,which is registered with Vastrapur police in Ahmedabad,and a case to implicate an accused in drug-peddling registered with the Pali police station in Rajasthan.

The affidavit states that Bhatt is a DIG rank officer who is well aware of the legal intricacies,and therefore,there is apprehensions that he would threaten the witnesses in the case. It also lists a number of witnesses in the case.

The affidavit was submitted in connection with the bail petition moved by Bhatt in the Ahmedabad District (Rural) Court.

The hearing on the petition began on Wednesday after the court of Additional Sessions Judge V K Vyas dismissed the state government’s application objecting to the bail hearing during the pendency of a remand revision application.

After this,the government moved another application demanding to stay the dismissal order,saying it wanted to challenge the order before a higher forum. However,the court dismissed this application as well and continued with the bail proceedings.

Bhatt’s counsel,I H Syed,argued mainly on two points that the complainant,K D Panth,has been changing his version over Bhatt’s claim of attending the alleged meeting called by Chief Minister Narendra Modi on February 27,2002. He also argued that against the criminal law provisions,the police have added sections 194 and 195 of the Indian Penal Code against Bhatt with the oblique motive to see that the latter did not get bail.

Later,the hearing was adjourned till Friday,when Syed would finish his arguments,which would be followed by Special Public Prosecutor S V Raju.