Delhi Police to visit Bharti's 'hideouts' on Friday

Delhi Police will on Friday visit all those places where former law minister Somnath Bharti stayed, including Agra and Mathura, while evading arrest in a domestic violence case filed by his wife Lipika Mitra.

"Bharti would be taken to those places, including Agra and Mathura, on Friday where he had taken shelter while evading arrest," a police official told IANS.

Police sources said Bharti took shelter at one of his "hideouts" in east Delhi and then went to Agra and Mathura with the help of Bane Singh, a man wanted in various cases in the capital.

"Bane Singh was one of the main harbourers who helped Bharti evade arrest. He helped Bharti in hiding in Uttar Pradesh," the police official said.

He said Bharti made a call to Bane Singh and asked for help. "Bharti then went to Agra and stayed at Bane Singh's residence."

"Bane Singh was the person who organised Bharti's meeting with driver Lal Singh. He also took Lal Singh's vehicle for a few hours to help Bharti in reaching another hideout," the official said.

The investigators are trying to get the names of those people, apart from Bane Singh, who helped the Aam Aadmi Party legislator from south Delhi's Malviya Nagar assembly constituency.

Bharti, whose police custody was on Thursday extended for three more days by a district court, was arrested on September 28 after he surrendered at the Dwarka North police station in west Delhi.

During interrogation at the Dwarka Sector 23 police station on Wednesday, Bharti broke down after he was asked about the incident involving his dog Don.

The investigators would also take dental impressions of Bharti's dog to match it with the bite marks on his wife's body.

Bharti's wife has accused him of unleashing his dog on her when she was pregnant.

Bharti was on the run soon after police registered a first information report (FIR) against him on September 10.

He made a sudden appearance in the early hours of September 16 at the Dwarka North police station after the Delhi High Court granted him interim protection.

On September 22, a Delhi court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, and thereafter he was avoiding arrest. A magistrate court on September 14 had issued non-bailable warrant against Bharti. After the warrant, Bharti was on the run yet again.

Bharti was named in the FIR following a June 10 complaint by his wife, who said he had been abusing her since their marriage in 2010.

She claimed Bharti used to beat and torture her and once even tried to kill her.

Bharti has been booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to attempt to murder, cruelty towards wife, voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon, criminal breach of trust, attempt to cause miscarriage without woman's consent, cheating and criminal intimidation.

Delhi Police has also invoked section 212, harbouring criminals, in the FIR.