Cops to reply in Bharti case

NEW DELHI : A trial court on Monday asked Delhi Police to respond in a month to a plea filed by AAP MLA Somnath Bharti seeking reinvestigation in a molestation case in which he and four others have been chargesheeted.
Bharti, who has been accused of molesting some African women during an illegal midnight raid, and his counsel also sought the court’s direction for registration of FIRs against three police officers—DCP (south) and the then and current SHO of Malviya Nagar police station—for framing him in the case.
Claiming gross misuse of law in the probe, Bharti said no prior sanction was taken from competent authorities before filing of a chargesheet or lodging an FIR against him as he was an elected representative of the people.
Meanwhile, investigating officer Vijay Chandel moved a plea seeking time to file a supplementary chargesheet which would be submitted after obtaining sanction for prosecuting Bharti. The court allowed the IO’s request and made it clear that till sanction is received for prosecution of Bharti, it will not take cognizance on the chargesheet. The next hearing will be on January 16.