India, April 29 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to release sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on bail pending his appeal challenging the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case in Gujarat.

Dismissing his petition to suspend the sentence and grant bail, a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, "We are not inclined to enlarge the appellant on bail."

However, the bench directed that the appeal filed by him challenging his conviction and sentence, which is pending in the top court, be expedited.

Justice Mehta, who wrote the judgment for the bench, said, "The observations made herein are restricted to bail and will not impact the appeals of the appellant. The prayers sought for bail is...