Modi, Shah wanted evidence of Pandya murder destroyed: Sanjiv Bhatt

Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt today told the Gujarat High Court that Chief Minister Narendra Modi and former Minister of State for Home Amit Shah had tried to pressurise him to destroy crucial evidence in the Haren Pandya murder case.

The allegations were made by Bhatt in an additional affidavit filed by him today before Justice RH Shukla who was hearing an alleged police atrocity case against the IPS officer in Jamnagar district. Bhatt has sought relief in the case.

In the affidavit filed through his advocate IH Syed, Bhatt claimed while he was posted as Superintendent of Sabarmati Central Prison in November 2003, he had come across important documentary evidence in connection with the murder of BJP leader and former minister Haren Pandya.

The very afternoon after he had forwarded the evidence to the Home department, he got a call from Shah expressing 'displeasure' over the report and asking him to destroy the documents immediately.

Bhatt placed the conversation with Shah on record and prepared another report, attached the Pandya murder documents and sent it to Shah directly.

He claimed Modi and Shah were highly disturbed and agitated by his act and had repeatedly tried to persuade him to withdraw his communication to Shah and destroy it.