Overview
- A Supreme Court bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi on Thursday dismissed Bhatt’s plea to suspend his sentence in the drug‑planting case.
- Kapil Sibal told the court Bhatt has already served seven years and three months, after which the judges suggested moving for expedited hearing of the appeal.
- The quantity of opium remains contested, with the bench noting five kilograms and the defence asserting the conviction rests on 1.015 kg, which it argues is not a commercial quantity.
- Senior advocate Maninder Singh, for the state, alleged a conspiracy by Bhatt to procure and plant opium to frame lawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohit, with the trial court having imposed a 20‑year term in March 2024 under NDPS and IPC provisions.
- The Gujarat High Court had earlier refused suspension and bail citing the rigours of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, and Bhatt also remains in prison serving a separate life term in a 1990 custodial death case after the Supreme Court declined suspension there in April.