Sanjiv Bhatt writes again to DGP seeking access to IB records

The controversial Gujarat cadre Indian Police Service officer, Sanjiv Bhatt, who filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court against Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday wrote another letter to the State Director General of Police seeking access to the State Intelligence Bureau records and documents related to the days of the 2002 communal riots.

After his earlier letter seeking access to the classified documents failed to elicit any result, Mr. Bhatt on Tuesday wrote another letter to the DGP seeking even more records including the State control room dispatch register, the intelligence reports received by the senior level police officers of the ADGPs and IGPs ranks from all agencies including the State Intelligence Bureau, the incoming and outgoing message registers of the State police control room and other records for the period from February 27 to September, 17, 2002.

Mr. Bhatt, whose affidavit in the Supreme Court claimed Mr. Modi having “directed” the police officers to “allow the Hindus to vent out their anger” and “teach the Muslims a lesson” during the 2002 communal riots, shot off the letter after the G. T. Nanavati – Akshay Mehta Judicial Enquiry Commission on Monday allowed the Jan Sangharsh Manch to cross question him when he appeared before the Commission on May 16.

Mr. Bhatt had earlier written a similar letter, seeking permission to go through the records of the State Intelligence Bureau in which he was the Deputy Commissioner, the capacity in which he claimed to had been asked to accompany the then State DGP, K. Chakravarthi, to attend the meeting convened by the Chief Minister at his residence, where he reportedly made the anti-minority remarks. The letter, however, failed to elicit any response from the DGP.

“Despite the passage of nearly one week, I have not received any response or communication from you, with respect to my written request for immediate access to requisite information/records/documents etc. held in your custody,” Mr Bhatt wrote to the DGP.

“As you are well aware, I am required to depose before the Justice Nanavati and Justice Mehta Commission of Inquiry on May 16, 2011. You are once again requested to kindly provide me with immediate access to the above listed information/records/documents being held in your custody, so as to enable me to make a meaningful deposition before the commission,” he said.

In another letter to the DGP, Mr Bhatt has again sought for “full-proof and adequate security” for himself and his immediate family members. The DGP had earlier pointed out that he and his family had been provided with two armed guards as per the State government's rules and was in accordance to the threat perception assessed by the Ahmedabad police and the Intelligence Bureau following his controversial affidavit in the Supreme Court.