New Delhi:‘Finally removed from service today after 27 years in the Indian Police Service.Once again eligible for employment. any takers? ’ tweeted suspended Gujarat Police officer Sanjiv Bhatt after hearing the news about his being sacked by Gujarat government.
Mr Bhat had to pay the price against going then Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots cases .
He was suspended in 2011 for remaining absent from duty without permission and misuse of official vehicles. At the time, he was posted in Junagadh.
But the officer had claimed he could not attend to his duties because his mother was ailing. He had also said since he was to appear before the Nanavati Commission, which was investigating the 2002 riots related cases, his presence was required in Ahmedabad — which he also confirmed in his Facebook post.
The government’s move also comes two days after he has been served with a showcause notice on the basis of a video clip to explain his alleged “illicit relationship” with an unknown woman, a charge denied by him.
On receiving the notice along with CD, Bhatt sent his written reply on August 15 in which he stated that the person in the CD is not him.
“I sent my reply to the home department on August 15. I told them that the person in the video is not me, but someone who bears a general resemblance to me,” said Bhatt.
It should also be noted that the lab report has indicated only about the authenticity of the video clip, it hasn’t said that the person in the video is Sanjiv Bhatt.himself.
Bhatt took on the Gujarat government when Narendra Modi was chief minister by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court, in which he alleged that Modi had instructed officers to allow Hindus “to vent out their anger” during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
The sacking of Sanjiv Bhatt is being seen as a clear case of vendetta on the part of Gujarat government against those who tried to go against Mr Modi.
Last month the house of human rights activists, Teesta Setalvad, was raided by CBI and later a non bailable warrant was issued against her.
Ms. Setalvad is trying unrelenting to hold Mr. Modi criminally responsible for 2002 Gujarat riots that killed more than 1,000 people when Mr. Modi was the chief minister of this state.