The subject line of the forensic report, attached along with the notice, was “Allegation against an IPS officer for having illicit relationship with a woman”. The subject line of the forensic report, attached along with the notice, was “Allegation against an IPS officer for having illicit relationship with a woman”.

The Gujarat government has issued a show cause notice to suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt after its Home Department received a complaint against him based on an alleged “sex video”.

The notice, seeking an explanation within 10 days from Bhatt for allegedly having a “relationship with a woman other than his wife”, was delivered on August 14 after the complaint was received along with a pen drive containing the 11-minute clip.

When contacted, Bhatt said he had replied to the notice on the day he received it, saying that the person in the clip was not him but “someone who bears a general resemblance”.

The show cause notice was signed by A V Vala, undersecretary, Home Department, and stated that the forensic science laboratory in Gandhinagar had confirmed that the clipping was authentic and had not undergone any “morphing”.

The subject line of the forensic report, attached along with the notice, was “Allegation against an IPS officer for having illicit relationship with a woman”. The report, however, did not specify that the person shown in the clip was Bhatt.

“The forensic result supports the complaint that Bhatt has (a) relationship with a woman other than his legally married” wife, the notice stated, adding that “this behaviour of Bhatt is unbecoming of an IPS officer…and breach of All India Service Rules”.

When contacted, Gujarat DGP P C Thakur said that he was not aware of the notice as he had been “away and returned only today”.

In his reply, Bhatt stated that a “closer examination” of the clipping “reveals striking differences in facial features, including the shape and size of the nose, the shape and size of the forehead, as well as the shape and size of the ears”.

“In order to dispel any doubts”, he added that he was willing to undergo “Detailed Biometric Examination and Analysis at the Directorate of Forensic Science, Gujarat State or at any other similarly equipped facility of your choice, so as to facilitate proper and conclusive comparison between me and the person in the said video”.

Bhatt has been under suspension since 2011 after he took on the then state government under Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots.

A 1988 batch IPS officer, Bhatt had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court, claiming that he had attended a meeting on February 27, 2002 at Modi’s residence in Gandhinagar, where he claimed the then CM allegedly told his officers to “allow Hindus to vent their anger”.

However, his claim was rejected by the Supreme Court appointed-Special Investigation Team, which probed nine major incidents related to the 2002 Godhra riots. Bhatt is also facing a couple of criminal cases.

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