Palanpur: Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday by a sessions court in Palanpur, Gujarat's Banaskantha district, in a 1996 case involving the planting of drugs to frame a lawyer.
Bhatt, who is currently serving a prison sentence for a custodial murder case was found guilty of falsely implicating a Rajasthan-based lawyer by claiming, in 1996, that police had seized drugs from a hotel room in Palanpur where the lawyer was staying.
Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, was serving as the superintendent of police of Banaskantha district at the time, PTI reported.
Additional District and Sessions Judge J N Thakkar convicted Bhatt on Wednesday under relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Indian Penal Code.
The quantum of punishment was announced on Thursday.