Ahmedabad, 28 October, 2011

One of the key witnesses in the case against suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who has been accused of forcing a constable to sign a false affidavit was missing since Tuesday, but returned back on Friday evening and appeared before the police.

The witness Shrenik Shah, who lives in Chandkheda area’s Vaibhav bungalow no. 6 was missing since 12.00 hours on October 25 as per his family, which initially believed that he had gone to Mahudi in Gandhinagar district for some ritual that was to be performed during Diwali.

However, since Shah did not return till 26th night, a missing person’s complaint was registered by his wife.

According to the FIR of constable K.D. Pant, based on which Bhatt was arrested, Shah had come with Pant to Mr Bhatt’s residence on the night of June 16.

Shah was also present when Bhatt allegedly threatened Pant and made him sign an affidavit that supported his claim that he was present in the meeting of February 27, 2002 called by Chief Minister Narendra Modi after the post-Godhra riots, the FIR said.

As a witness in the FIR against Bhatt, Shah’s statement has been recorded before a judicial magistrate by the investigating officer in the case.

Bhatt, in his affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, had alleged complicity of Mr Modi in the post-Godhra riots, and stated that Pant who knew about the CM’s meeting was threatened with dire consequences.

To get clear idea of Shrenik Shah’s role as per the FIR filed by KD Panth, read this article.