SIT destroyed evidence, alleges Sanjiv Bhatt

Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has, in a letter written to the Nanavati Commission, alleged that the Supreme Court-appointed SIT and the state government has 'destroyed' crucial records related to 2002 post-Godhra riots.

"It is my genuine apprehension that relevant records have been deviously suppressed or destroyed by the government of Gujarat as well as the SIT headed by RK Raghavan," Bhatt wrote in his letter to Justice GT Nanavati and Justice Akshay Mehta Commission probing the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

"This has been done with the diabolical motive of shielding powerful persons from legal punishment by ensuring that crucial and relevant incriminating evidence is not brought before the courts of law," he has stated in his letter.

"The delay on part of the commission in requisitioning the relevant public records and documents has, inadvertently or otherwise, facilitated the destruction of incriminating evidence against Gujarat chief minister or other ministers in his cabinet," Bhatt alleged.

He also urged the commission to ensure that relevant records are not destroyed by the 'vested interests'. "The honourable commission is once again requested to ensure that relevant records are not destroyed by vested interests in the administrative machinery of the state government whose own conduct is under inquiry," he stated.

Bhatt was posted as the deputy commissioner of intelligence with the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) from 1999 to 2002. He had deposed before the commission in May 2011.