Bhatt accused the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team of threatening prime witnesses and leaking out vital information concerning the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt has put the role of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) under a scanner, accusing it of threatening prime witnesses and leaking out vital information concerning the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
Bhatt has urged the Supreme Court to ensure that the SIT acts upon leads given by prime witnesses and ensures their safety.
He has claimed that the SIT showed a hostile approached when he tried to give out names of officers who could corroborate his claim that he was present in the meeting with Modi.
“Despite the strong reluctance of the SIT to record inconvenient details, I stated before them the names of witnesses who could substantiate the fact that I had accompanied DG & IGP to the meeting with the chief minister.
“My apprehensions were substantiated when one of the witnesses I had named, KD Panth (assistant intelligence officer with the state IB in 2002) informed me that he was called by SIT and was virtually treated like an accused and was threatened with arrest and other dire consequences,” he said. Bhatt has urged the apex court to provide protection to the witnesses.
“Even today, the situation in Gujarat is such that witnesses would be afraid of vindictive reprisals and persecution at the hands of the state machinery. Evidently, witnesses serving under the control of the state government would be highly reluctant to come forward and take a stand that could imperil their own safety.”
Bhatt asked the court to ensure that the SIT follows up on all the leads provided by him such that even reluctant witnesses feel safe and confident to speak out the truth.
“I believe it is my painful duty to bring to the notice of the court that the SIT does not appear to be living up to the enormous trust reposed in it by the Supreme Court of India, to conduct an impartial and thorough probe into the allegations of a larger conspiracy and administrative complicity behind the Gujarat riots of 2002,” he said.
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