AAP’s Somnath Bharti seeks transfer of raid case

Former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti told a city court on Monday that the Delhi Police have concealed vital evidence which would exonerate him in the case arising out of his midnight raid on the African residents of Khirki Extension in January.

Former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti told a city court on Monday that the Delhi Police have concealed vital evidence which would exonerate him in the case arising out of his midnight raid on the African residents of Khirki Extension in January.

He has asked the court to transfer the case to “some other state” or “investigating agency” for “proper investigation”.

The police deliberately concealed a video made by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during the midnight raid which took place on the intervening night of January 15 and 16, this year, said the AAP leader in an application filed before the court through his lawyer Deepak Khosla.

According to Bharti, the video “negates and counters” the police’s version of events on that night. He further alleged that this video — which was filed with the court on Monday — shows that the media footage portrayed the events of that night “in a compromised form.”

The police have also hidden from the court that one of their “star witnesses” is the pimp and drug dealer against whom the residents of Khirki Extension have registered numerous complaints, Bharti added.

This witness has “an axe to grind” with him because of his “efforts at halting drug-cum-human trafficking” in the area which harmed “her lucrative business.”

In the application, which lists 12 facts which were allegedly suppressed by the Delhi Police, Bharti also said that none of the 41 witnesses examined by the police were actually at the scene of the alleged crime.

According to him, “actual witnesses” would have “disproved” the case made out by the police.

Requesting that the matter be transferred “away from PS Malviya Nagar” so that “Justice is not pretended to be done”, Bharti has said the police with a “political agenda” have tried to implicate him in the matter.