NEW DELHI, Jan 14:
Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti today came under attack from ally Congress and Opposition BJP which demanded his removal over his being indicted by a court for “tampering of evidence” in a case in which he had appeared as a lawyer.
However, Bharti, who belongs to Aam Aadmi Party, and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal put up a stout defence saying the court was “wrong” in the matter.
The demand for his resignation came in the wake of reports on a ruling by Special CBI Judge Poonam Bamba in a case in August, 2013 that the conduct of Pawan Kumar and his advocate (Bharti) “is not only highly objectionable and unethical but also amounts to tampering with evidence.”
The CBI Judge had made these observations while cancelling the bail granted earlier to Bharti’s client, facing trial in a graft case relating to bank fraud.
The court had taken strong exception to the fact that Bharti and his client Pawan Kumar had telephonically contacted one of the prosecution witnesses to extract his opinion on the matter.
Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Harsh Vardhan said, “It has been proved that he was caught tampering with evidence in Patiala House Court.
“Even the Judge has observed this. In such a situation, I think the people of Delhi demand Somnath Bharti’s resignation and if Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal talks about ethics, then he should sack his minister,” he said.
Arvinder Singh Lovely, President of State unit of Congress which gives outside support to AAP Government, said law protector has become a law breaker. A party that came to power on the basis of morality should question its own conscience.
“Are you such a big man that when there is a sting operation against you, then it is incorrect. If a court gives any verdict, then you raise question over that verdict. What you do is right and what others do is wrong?
“They should ask their conscience if they have one, what they are doing is just or not…Today the people of Delhi want to know whether is this ethical,” said Lovely.
At a press conference, Bharti claimed he was not indicted by the court. He even faulted the court saying it was erroneous on the part of the Judge to say “conversation” with prosecution witness amounts to tampering of proof.
“What is prohibited is intimidation. Conversation is not prohibited,” he said.
Kejriwal said they want the media to show the recording to the nation.
“You decide what evidence has been tampered with after watching the recording. We respect the court but in this matter the court is wrong…The Judge called the sting operation as tampering of evidence. This is not tampering of evidence,” Kejriwal said.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said that the AAP had claimed to have set high standards of public morality and the nation was watching whether they would walk the talk.
Meanwhile, with its on-going nation-wide membership drive, AAP claimed over 10 lakh people joined the outfit in the last five days.
The party also announced Adarsh Shastri, grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, and former IPS officer Uday Sahay have joined it.
AAP had kick-started the membership drive campaign ‘Mein Bhi Aam Aadmi’ on January 10, with an aim of getting over 1 crore members by January 26.
Senior party leader Gopal Rai, who is over-seeing the national membership drive, said over 6.6 lakh people joined the party by giving a missed call on a mobile number followed by 4.5 lakh who registered as members through its website.
Over 1 lakh SMSes were sent to the (mobile) number and the rest of the people have joined the party by manually filing a form.
“We have finished training of our volunteers. We will soon start over 300 district camps and hold membership camps. Our volunteers will do door-to-door campaigining for getting more people to join the party,” Rai said.
With the party receiving complaints that many people were not able to join it because of the busy mobile network, it announced two more mobile numbers (08082807715/ 08082807715) on which people can either send SMSes or call to become members.
Rai claimed the party has so far received support from across the country in its membership campaign but it got maximum support from North Indian States.
“We have received maximum support from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. We have also received good response from Gujarat and Maharashtra,” Rai said.
In the South, the party has received maximum support from Karnataka, particularly Bangalore city, followed by Tamil Nadu, Kerela and Andhra Pradesh.
The party also announced of Adarsh Shastri, grandson of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, joining the party along with former IPS officer Uday Sahay.
Asked what prompted him to become a member of the party, Shastri, a former head of the Apple (West India), said he liked the “conviction” the party has.
Probed further whether he was keen to contest Lok Sabha elections on an AAP ticket or had applied for a party ticket, he said “if the party thinks, I will contest…I have not applied for any ticket”.
Former IRS officer Jeetendra Kumar Shukla, senior Supreme Court lawyer Santosh Kumar, social entrepreneur Richa Pandey Mishra, ‘Career Launcher’ founder Satya Narayanan R also joined the party. (PTI)
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