NEW DELHI: Former Delhi Law Minister and AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, who faces arrest with the Delhi High Court rejecting his plea for anticipatory bail, is moving the Supreme Court "immediately" for relief, his aides said even as police raided his office and residence to nab him.
The aides said Bharti was in his office till morning and left it by the time police came looking for him after his plea for anticipatory bail was rejected.
"10-12 police personnel came looking for him an hour after the bail plea was rejected by the high court. They also snatched away our mobile phones and went through every nook and corner of the office," an aide of Bharti alleged, adding he was approaching the Supreme Court immediately.
That the former Law Minister was looking to exhaust all legal options was also made clear by AAP leader Ashutosh earlier today.
"(Narendra) Modi's police should know that he (Bharti) has still got the rights to go and appeal in the Supreme Court," he said.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Dependra Pathak accused Bharti of evading arrest.
"We sent two police teams to Bharti's office at Dwarka and residence at Malviya Nagar, but he was not present at either of the two. When we tried to call him up, his phone was also found to be switched off," he said.
Earlier, the high court rejected Bharti's plea for anticipatory bail in the domestic violence case lodged against him by his wife Lipika Mitra, observing that the allegations against him were backed by "documentary proof".
Terming the allegations by his wife as "very serious", Justice Suresh Kait said she has been tolerating his "cruelty" and "brutal assault".
Lipika had filed a complaint of domestic violence with Delhi Commission for Women on June 10 alleging that her husband had been abusing her since their marriage in 2010. She had also given a complaint to the police in this regard.
Delhi Police then registered an FIR against Bharti under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 498A (cruelty towards wife), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 313 read with 511 (attempt to cause miscarriage without woman's consent), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.
The high court had on September 17 reserved its verdict while protecting Bharti from arrest till pronouncement of its order.
Bharti had moved the high court seeking protection from arrest after a trial court denied him anticipatory bail and another court issued a non-bailable warrant against him.
Meanwhile the Aam Aadmi Party accused the city police of being "selectively proactive" over raids at Bharti's residence and office.
"The moment his bail is rejected you have the police standing at his door and senior police officials commenting. But you will see no such proactiveness when it comes to cases like that the one in Nand Nagri where a man was murdered," party leader Ashutosh said.
However, Ashutosh also urged Bharti to come forward and clear his stand on what he said was the Malvia Nagar legislator's "personal matter" on which the "law will take its own course."