Somnath Bharti charged with attempt to murder wife

The Delhi police has charged AAP MLA Somnath Bharti for subjecting his wife Lipika Mitra to cruelty and for an attempt to murder her. Ms Mitra had lodged a case of domestic violence against her husband. The court after taking cognisance of the final report fixed April 23 to hear further arguments.

In the chargesheet, the prosecution has alleged that Mr Bharti, who is currently out on bail, had tried to endanger the life of an unborn child which his wife was carrying by unleashing his dog on her.

“The accused unleashed his dog on the complainant (Ms Mitra) which bit her badly, it is pertinent to mention that the complainant was in an advance stage of pregnancy and being diabetic, the act by the accused not only was an attempt (to endanger) the life of the complainant, but also seriously endangered the life of the unborn child which the complainant was carrying,” according to the charges against Mr Bharti.

The prosecution said that there was enough evidence on record to prove its case against Mr Bharti. The police said that as per the statements of the witnesses there is sufficient evidence on record to file charges under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 315 (act done with intent to prevent child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 417 (punishment for cheating), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of IPC against the accused, Mr Bharti.

Besides Mr Bharti, the police has also named Kapil Vajpayee, Baney Singh and one Natish as other accused in the case. The chargesheet also mentions the name of Mr Bharti’s mother Manorama Bharti, but did not make her an accused saying there was lack of evidence against her. The prosecution also said that further investigation is still in progress and supplementary charge sheet may be filed.

Mr Bharti was granted bail on October 7 last year by a court here which had imposed several conditions on him. He had moved the bail plea after the Supreme Court had disposed of his anticipatory bail application and asked him to approach the trial court for regular bail.