Suspended Manavadar circle police inspector (CPI) Taral Bhatt’s bail application in a case of extorting money in lieu of unfreezing bank accounts was rejected on Apr 15.

Rejecting his application, Sessions Judge HA Dave stated that it was “not in the interest of justice to grant him bail”.

During the hearing, the forgery clause was removed, while the clause of destroying evidence was added, and a charge sheet was filed.

The offence is non-cognizable under Sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The maximum punishment under these sections is seven years.

Sessions Judge Dave ordered the rejection of CPI Bhatt’s bail application on the grounds of it being a non-bailable offence, further extending his jail time.

Extortion case against the corrupt cops

It is noteworthy that ex-Manavadar circle police inspector (CPI) Taral Bhatt emerged as the prime accused in the case, in which suspended Special Operations Group (SOG) police inspector (PI) Arvind M Gohil and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Deepak Jani of Junagadh extorted money to unfreeze bank accounts that were under the radar of local police.

The investigation in this case was later handed over to the Gujarat anti terrorism squad (ATS), which made the arrests of PI Bhatt on Feb 2 and his associate Deep Shah on Feb 28. Later, ASI Jani was also arrested on Mar 14 by the ATS.

Meanwhile, ATS is on the lookout for ex-PI Gohil, another prime associate in this racket.

Several allegations were made against CPI Bhatt for illegally freezing accounts and then demanding huge sums to unfreeze them in a cricket betting scam raid conducted at Ahmedabad in March last year.

During his time as Manavadar CPI after his transfer to Junagadh, Bhatt involved SOG PI Gohil in this case and provided him with bank accounts to freeze, allowing him to fetch hefty sums out of them illicitly with the help of ASI Jani.

Also read:

Key accused in Gujarat’s Taral Bhatt scandal detained in Dubai: Reports

ATS arrests ASI Deepak Jani in PI Taral Bhatt’s police extortion scam

Extortion by police: PI Taral Bhatt’s associate Deep Shah arrested by ATS