Ahmedabad:  Sanjeev Bhatt, a senior police officer in Gujarat who was suspended earlier this year, has been arrested in Gandhinagar. Mr Bhatt shot into national prominence in April this year after he disclosed that during the communal riots in Gujarat, Narendra Modi ordered policemen not to help victims in neighbourhoods that were being attacked. 

1200 people were killed in the state’s riots in 2002.

Mr Bhatt filed an addidavit with the Supreme Court detailing that at a meeting in February 2002, Mr Modi asked senior policemen not to interrupt rioters. Mr Bhatt says he attended this meeting; other policemen who were present claim he didn’t.

Mr Bhatt has been arrested on the basis of a complaint by  a junior officer, KD Pant, who alleges that Mr Bhatt forced him to back his allegations on record against Mr Modi.

Mr 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 Congress and Mr Bhatt accuse the Modi government of persecuting the police officer for taking on the Chief Minister.