Suspended Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt arrested

Gandhinagar, Sep 30(ANI): Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was recently locked in a public confrontation with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 Godhra riots, was today arrested by the Gandhinagar police.

Bhatt was arrested on a complaint filed by K.D. Pant, who worked as a subordinate with Bhatt in the state Intelligence Bureau, a CNN-IBN report said.

According to Pant's complaint Bhatt had forced him to file an affidavit in which Modi had been named.

Bhatt was suspended last month for failing to report to work, and for using a state-given car even though he was not on duty.

The IPS officer had earlier accused Modi of misusing state machinery during the Godhra riots, and asking cops to ignore calls for help from Muslims.

The riots in 2002 took place after the burning of the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002, in which 59 kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh were killed. The riots claimed over 1,000 lives. (ANI)