On Wednesday, former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt filed a petition in the Supreme Court to overturn the Gujarat High Court's decision to begin the regular hearing of his appeal against the conviction in a custodial death case without waiting for the order of some other petition filed by him in the Supreme Court trying to seek to offer substantial evidence in the appeal. Advocate Aljo Joseph has filed the petition.

In July 2019, the Sessions Court in Jamnagar, Gujarat, sentenced Bhatt to life in prison after finding him guilty of the 1990 death in custody of one Prabhudas Madhavji Vaishnani. He had filed an application with the trial court to generate expert evidence from one doctor to support his argument that Prabhudas' death was not caused by the alleged sit-ups he was forced to do by the police. The application had been denied by the trial court. In the criminal appeal filed before the Gujarat High Court, Bhatt sought to adduce expert evidence under Section 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The application was denied by the High Court in August 2022. In order to challenge the High Court's order, he filed a special leave petition with the Supreme Court, which is still pending.

Bhatt filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in April 2011, accusing then-Chief Minister Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 riots. He claimed to have attended a meeting called by the then-CM, Mr. Modi, on February 27, 2002, the day of the communal riots, during which instructions were allegedly given to the State Police not to pursue the perpetrators of violence. In October 2015, the Supreme Court denied Bhatt's request to form a special investigation team (SIT) to look into cases filed against him by the Gujarat government.