Ahmedabad: A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district on Thursday sentenced former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years imprisonment in a 1996 drug planting case.

Second additional sessions judge Jatin Thakker, who had convicted Bhatt in this case on March 27, declared the sentence on Thursday. He stated that Bhatt, who is currently serving a twenty-year life imprisonment term in a separate case linked to custodial death, will now face an additional twenty years behind bars.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs.2 lakh under the NDPS Act Section 21 (c) (punishment for contravention in relation to manufactured drugs and preparations). Additionally, the court stipulated that failure to pay the fine would result in an extended term of one year in jail.

Bhatt has also been convicted of charges under Section 27(a) of the NDPS Act (punishment for possession of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances) and various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 116 (abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment), sections 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document) and 204 (destruction of document to prevent its production as evidence) among others.

The court ruled that Bhatt’s jail terms for different sections of the IPC and NDPS Act would run concurrently. This means he will serve a maximum of twenty years despite receiving multiple sentences, said the court.

The court’s order stated that the twenty-year jail term for the drug planting case and the twenty-year term for the custodial death case would be served consecutively, meaning Bhatt would have to serve a total of forty years in prison.

The drug planting case dates back to 1996 when Bhatt, who was the superintendent of police (SP) of Banaskantha in Gujarat at the time, arrested Rajasthan-based lawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohit for keeping drugs.

According to the police statement at that time, they found drugs in the lawyer’s hotel room in Palanpur in Banaskantha district.

A further probe by the Rajasthan police revealed that the lawyer was falsely implicated and allegedly abducted by Banaskantha police from his residence in Pali and that Bhatt had fabricated evidence by planting 1.5 kg of opium in the lawyer’s room.

Bhatt along with his sub-ordinate I B Vyas was arrested in September 2018 after the Gujarat high court ordered an inquiry into the matter. Vyas subsequently became an approver in the matter. Bhatt was dismissed from the services in 2015.

Last year in August 2023, the high court rejected a plea filed by him demanding a transfer of his trial in the 1996 drug-planting case to a court in Banaskantha district.

He is presently serving life imprisonment in a case related to custodial death.

Bhatt, as the additional superintendent of police in Jamnagar (in 1990), had detained over 130 individuals under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) after a communal riot triggered by a Bharat Bandh called by Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Following their release, one detainee, Prabhudas Vaishnani, died, with his family accusing Bhatt of custodial torture. Allegations included reckless beatings, forced acts, and denial of water, resulting in kidney damage.

A first infromation report was registered against Bhatt and other officers for the custodial death and cognizance was taken by a magistrate in 1995. A total of seven police officers were accused in the case, including two sub-inspectors and three police constables.

In 2019, Bhatt was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court in Jamnagar for the custodial death case. In January this year, the Gujarat high court upheld his conviction and life sentence for the custodial death case.

Bhatt, along with co-accused Pravinsinh Zala, was convicted under sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

In January this year, Bhatt’s appeal against the verdict of the Jamnagar court was rejected by the Gujarat high court.

Bhatta, a 1988 batch IPS officer, has been a controversial figure. He was also sacked by the state government on various grounds in 2015.

The controversial ex-IPS officer had testified against the then-chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots and had claimed that he was part of a meeting on February 27, 2002, when Modi had allegedly ordered police personnel to let the Hindu community vent their anger after the Godhra train burning incident.