Oct. 3: The Congress today said “Narendra Modi’s naked dictatorship was manifest in full force” in the case of IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, arrested after he accused the chief minister for police inaction during the 2002 riots.

The criticism by Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi came on a day the suspended officer’s wife wrote to Union home minister P. Chidambaram saying she feared for his life.

“Modi is running a vindictive regime where his word is the law. The democratic spirit of the state has been thrown to the winds. This is narcissistic megalomania of a person filled with hatred,” Singhvi said in Delhi.

The Congress has in the past refrained from personal barbs at Modi as he has used such rhetoric to his political advantage. But the party now believes the Bhatt case could upset people even in Gujarat, which Modi has helmed for over a decade.

Singhvi, however, sought to stress that his attack wasn’t personal. “We are not worried about any individual but institutions cannot be used for illegal vindictive politics. Bhatt has filed affidavits against Modi and he is being targeted.”

Bhatt was arrested last week for allegedly forcing a constable to file a false court affidavit claiming he had seen the IPS officer at the chief minister’s home the night before the riots began. It was at this meeting that Modi asked officers “to let Hindus vent their anger”, the officer had told the Supreme Court.

Bhatt’s wife Sweta said in her letter to Chidambaram that “he is being physically and mentally tortured and is being kept in a shabby cell”. But Gujarat DGP Chittaranjan Singh defended Bhatt’s arrest. Bhatt’s bail plea will come up in an Ahmedabad court tomorrow.