AAP national body to take a call on Somnath

Bharti was named in a first information report (FIR) registered in Dwarka in west Delhi on charges of domestic violence and attempt to murder, and attempt to cause miscarriage without the woman’s consent. “Somnath should surrender. Why is he running away?”

Meanwhile, police are also trying to identify others that might have sheltered the former Delhi Minister, who is not suspected to have left Delhi by now. He says that his estranged wife “is being used for political reasons” to embarrass him. He has also been claiming that Delhi Police is working on the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office to tarnish his image.

Justice Suresh Kait said Bharti is not only “violent and outrageous at home but also before the public at large”.

Earlier this year, a city court had asked the police to get prosecution sanction against Bharti from the competent authority to proceed further in the case. After taking power for the second time, Arvind Kejriwal decided not to include Mr Bharti. “He should cooperate with police”.

The police is keeping watch on visitors to Bharti’s house in Malviya Nagar and his brother’s house in Vasant Kunj. Why is he so scared of going to jail?

The Delhi High Court had rejected his plea for anticipatory bail in the case, observing that the allegations against him were backed by “documentary proof”.

Despite widespread condemnation of his conduct, Mr Kejriwal and AAP defended him, but when the party took power again in February, Mr Bharti was not included in the cabinet.

“On the Delhi Commission for Women’s role in the case, chairperson Swati Maliwal said: “(My predecessor) Barkha Shukla Singh has already closed this case in the DCW.

“Somnath Bharti might be a dead weight for the AAP but at least we can use his dog”, Kejriwal said, in a press conference.