Kejriwal defends Somnath Bharti, says CBI court observation wrong

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday strongly defended Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti, saying the observation of the CBI court, which indicted Bharti and his client with tampering of evidence, is wrong.

"We respect the judiciary of the country. But in this particular case, the observation of the court is wrong," Kejriwal said.

Highlighting the details of the case, Kejriwal said, "I had a word with Somnath Bharti this morning. We need to understand the case correctly. It was a case of a scam worth more than 100 crore rupees. The fraud was committed in a bank. Fake letters of credit were raised. Many officials of the bank were involved in this fraud."

"But Pawan Kumar, who was a desk officer, was made the scapegoat by the CBI to save some big officers. So, Kumar conducted a sting and recorded the statements of these officials. Now, there is no tampering of the evidence in this case. The court termed the sting as tampering of the evidence. We are ready to give this recording to the media," he added.

Last year, Somnath Bharti was indicted by a CBI court in Delhi along with his client Pawan Kumar, who was facing corruption charges. The duo was also accused by the CBI of influencing a prosecution witness.

The CBI Special Judge Poonam A Bamba had said, "The conduct of accused Pawan Kumar and his advocate (Bharti) is not only highly objectionable, unethical but also amounts to tampering with evidence,"

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