The Delhi police on Saturday filed a supplementary chargesheet against AAP leader Somnath Bharti in connection with a midnight raid on African women in Khirki Extension last year, which was allegedly led by the former law minister.
Police also informed the court that it has sought sanction, from the “competent authority”, to prosecute the leader in the case.
You have exhausted your monthly limit of free stories.
Read more stories for free with an Express account.
Bharti was arrested last week in connection with a separate case of domestic violence and attempted murder, filed by his wife Lipika Mitra.
[related-post]
Metropolitan Magistrate Ankita Lal has now fixed October 30 for considering the chargesheet. Bharti is likely to be summoned as an accused, after the court takes cognisance of the offences.
The Delhi Police had earlier alleged that Bharti and the other accused “trespassed” into the house of the main complainant, “molested and assaulted them” and “dragged them out of their houses”.
In a chargesheet filed last year, the police had claimed that “nine African women were victims of molestation and manhandling by a mob led by then law minister Somnath Bharti”.
The Delhi police, in its supplementary chargesheet, submitted the forensic reports pertaining to the case. The director of the forensic laboratory and the scientist who examined the reports have been named as prosecution witnesses.
Story continues below this ad
The police have already submitted a report on CCTV camera footage AIIMS, where the women were taken for a check-up, and footage from news channels which covered the event.
On September 24, the AAP government had paved the way for Bharti’s prosecution, with its home ministry notifying Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s sanction to prosecute the legislator in the alleged molestation case.
The Delhi police had earlier named 41 prosecution witnesses, of whom eight are foreign nationals.
Bharti had also been charged with “assaulting or obstructing a public servant when suppressing a riot”.
Story continues below this ad
In the present case, the police had also filed a report on Bharti, for further probe in the case, in a sealed cover.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
