Sanjiv Bhatt turns real-life Singham; Gujarat IPS officers back his “fight for truth”

Ajay Devgan as Singham

IS Gujarat’s much talked about IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt slowing becoming a real-life Singham, an Ajay Devgan-starred character of a police officer who finally motivates his seniors to join him in a fight against the evil? Bhatt who was arrested on September 30 on a compliant filed by police constable, is now getting a strong backing from fellow IPS officers of the state. Bhatt first came into news when he accused state chief minister Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Sanjiv Bhatt

On Saturday, Gujarat IPS Officers Association passed a resolution not only to support the family of the arrested IPS officer but backed Bhatt in his "fight for truth". The meeting was reportedly attended by 35 IPS officer. The resolution is significant as it is the most vocal support to a Modi-baiter though many IPS officers in the past were not happy about the treatment meted out to IPS officers like Rahul Sharma, RB Srikumar and Kuldeep Sharma. All of them had expressed their anguish against Modi government over a period of time.

According to media reports, IPS officers Atul Karwal, VM Parghi and Praveen Kumar Singh personally went to Bhatt’s residence to convey the resolution passed by the association to his family members. Bhatt’s wife Shewta had earlier written to home minister P Chidambaram saying that her husband was kept in the same cell with criminals and his life could be a danger.

Gujarat DGP Chittaranjan Singh played down the move. Incidentally, the IPS association also wanted a permanent DGP in the state as Singh is an acting police chief.

There has been a fear among IPS officers in the state that any one opposing Modi could be meted out the same treatment. It is probably the first instance in India that an IPS officer is arrested on a complaint filed by a police constable. Constable KD Pant had accused Bhatt of allegedly making him sign false affidavits regarding a meeting called by Modi on February 27, 2002 soon after the Godhra train attack.

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KK Srivastava, a 1975 batch Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer, has taken over as new Member Traffic, Railway Board and ex-officio secretary to government of India. He was the General Manager, East Central Railway, Hajipur. He had earlier worked as chief passenger traffic manager and chief operations manager on Eastern Railway and chief commercial manager on East Central Railway and North Eastern Railway. He had visited UK to study Multi-Model Transport Management.