Bhatt seeks bail,court issues notice to Modi govt

The government,meanwhile,moved a revision application before another bench in the same court,seeking Bhatts remand for seven days. The government has challenged the magisterial courts order,which turned down its plea on Saturday and sent Bhatt to jail.

The revision plea is likely to come up for hearing before the court of Principal District Judge G M Patel on Tuesday while additional district judge V K Vyas is expected to hear the bail petition,though no date has been fixed.

Bhatt was arrested on September 30 by Ghatlodia police in connection with a complaint lodged by police constable K D Pant. The constable has alleged that Bhatt had forcefully made him sign an affidavit in which the former has been shown to have corroborated Bhatts claim that he had attended a meeting called by Modi on February 27,2002.

In the said meeting,Modi is alleged to have given instructions to the top bureaucrats to let mobs vent their anger against Muslims after the Godhra train carnage.

Police have registered a case under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code,charging Bhatt of wrongful confinement and fabricating evidence among others. On the second day of his arrest,the government added a fresh,more stringent section 194 of the IPC,which also deals with fabricating evidence but is non-bailable and could invite up to death penalty.

However,Bhatt has said that Pant appears to be acting as a ploy on the diktats of the political members in the government. He also cited a petition moved before the Supreme Court whereby he has sought transfer of the case outside Gujarat and that his fears expressed in the petition came true with his arrest. Bhatt has also referred to his affidavit before the High Court stating that in November 2003,he had sent a key evidence of the Haren Pandya murder case to the then MoS Home Amit Shah.