After three AAP lawmakers were arrested this year - Jitendra Singh Tomar, Surinder Singh and Manoj Kumar - the next who could be joining the list is Somnath Bharti who could be booked on charges of attempt to murder and denied anticipatory bail for the domestic violence case filed by his wife, Lipka Mitra.
Lipika Mitra, whom Somnath Bharti married in 2010, has alleged that he once tried to strangle her while his dog, Don, attacked her when she was pregnant.
In June, Mitra filed a complaint with the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) that she had been facing domestic violence, harassment and torture since 2010. According to Huffington Post, she said in her complaint, “Me and my children are subject to harassment and torture -mental, physical and oral - by my husband Somnath Bharti. There is a persistent threat from my husband and his supporters."
Bharti was charged with the domestic violence on September 9 and went missing earlier this month and resurfaced only after the Delhi High court promised to provide him protection until the final decision came. Last week, Bharti showed up at a police station with his Labrador Don, at 2 am in the morning.
He denied all allegations and said, "All charges are false. I will prove it. I love my wife," said Mr.Bharti, proclaiming that she "is being used for political reasons" to embarrass him.
Bharti, who was the law minister in the AAP’s 49-day government, last year faced backlash for midnight raid at Ugandan and Nigerian women living in Khirki Extension whom the locals accused of having a drug and prostitution racket.
While the Aam Admi party supported Somnath Bharti in the midnight raid case but they are keeping their mouth shut for the present case and tagging it as “personal matter”.
The Delhi police also raided Bharati's house in Malviya Nagar and his office on Tuesday. "He was found absconding from both places," Joint Commissioner of Police Deependra Pathak told IANS.