Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Naveen Kumar Bhatt was questioned by Hyderabad police on Wednesday, December 27, in a case relating to a dispute over the property owned by retired Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer Bhanwar Lal’s wife. Bhatt, the Deputy Director of Telangana State Police Academy, left the Central Crime Station (CCS) on December 27 night after questioning. The police denied that he was arrested.
Bhatt was booked along with his brother-in-law Orsu Sambasiva Rao and the latter’s wife O Roopa Dimple last month on a complaint by Mani Lal, wife of Bhanwar Lal. Sambasiva Rao, a businessman, had taken the house of Bhanwar Lal in posh Jubilee Hills on rent back in 2014. Though the five-year rental agreement ended in 2019, he allegedly refused to vacate the house. Bhatt was staying in that house on rent allegedly in violation of the rental agreement, according to the complaint. The complainant alleged that the accused had prepared fake documents and forged the signature to grab her house.
While Sambasiva Rao and his wife, accused number one and three respectively, were arrested on December 22, Bhatt, named as accused number two, was shown absconding. The case was registered against them on November 17 under Indian Penal Code's Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) r/w 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
The IPS official told media persons that he went to the Central Crime Station to give his version. He said a case was registered on a complaint though the matter is sub-judice. He denied the allegations made in the complaint and claimed that he had done nothing wrong. He said facts would soon come out.
Meanwhile, Bhatt’s family members alleged that it is a conspiracy against him. His son Sahit termed the case a conspiracy against his father when he was due for promotion.