Delhi court to hear ex-minister Bharti's plea on October 15

A Delhi court on Wednesday fixed October 15 for hearing former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti's plea seeking registration of a first information report pertaining to a probe into his midnight raid in Khirki Extension area here in January 2014.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Bhupesh Kumar deferred the hearing for October 15 after the public prosecutor could not attend the case hearing since he was busy elsewhere.

Bharti last month filed the application challenging a magisterial court order that dismissed his plea for registration of an FIR against unidentified police officials under charges dealing with framing of incorrect record and making false charge of offence with intent to injure, among other things.

Bharti and others were charge-sheeted on September 29 last year under 16 sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those pertaining to outraging the modesty of women. In the charge sheet of over 100 pages, police cited around 41 prosecution witnesses, including nine African women, to buttress the charges.

Police lodged an FIR on January 19, 2014, against "unidentified accused" on the court's direction and booked them on charges dealing with wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

The minister visited a house in Khirki Extension after receiving complaints about an alleged prostitution and drug racket in the area.