The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has faced its first embarrassment with regard to a Cabinet member when allegations of its law minister Somnath Bharti influencing a witness surfaced on Tuesday.
Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti. Facebook image.
According to a Times of India report, the Patiala House Court had in 2013 indicted Bharti for "tampering with evidence" along with his client Pawan Kumar in a corruption case.
"The conduct of accused Pawan Kumar and his advocate (Bharti) is not only highly objectionable, unethical but also amounts to tampering with evidence," CBI Special Judge Poonam A Bamba observed in her order cancelling Kumar's bail on the ground that he misused his liberty, the report said.
The Congress, which is providing outside support to the AAP government has demanded that action be initiated against Bharti if the allegations against him are true.
"It may have been possible that Kejriwal did not know about this case, but now that it is out in the media, he must act against him. Kejriwalji must deliver on his promise that he made to the people of zero tolerance towards corruption," Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed told reporters.
The BJP too slammed the debutant party demanding the resignation of Bharti saying the allegations against him were serious.
"This is a very serious allegation against Somnath Bharti. He misbehaved with his law secretary once. Now there is fresh evidence that he tried to tamper with evidence in an important case," BJP leader Harsh Vardhan told NDTV.
Bharti, however, has denied the charges against him, terming the news report as 'malicious'. "Will expose CBI and its nexus to the hilt... wait for some time," he tweeted this morning.
The Aam Aadmi Party has not yet reacted to the allegations against its minister.
The TOI malicious news will expose CBI n its nexus to the hilt...wait for sometime.
— Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) January 14, 2014
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