The Commission of Inquiry headed by retired Additional District & Session Judge (ADJ) Bl Garg has indicted former Delhi law Minister Somnath Bharti for unsavoury controversy pertaining to his midnight raid in Khirki Extension involving Ugandan nationals on January 15 and 16. The Commission of Inquiry has submitted a detailed report to lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung two days ago. The Commission of Inquiry has also cleared Delhi Police of any misdoings. The inquiry report may be big blow to Aam Aadmi Party and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who had defended Bharti’s act. The police too are conducting a parallel probe in the case.

Top sources told The Pioneer that former ADJ (retired) Bl Garg has submitted his report to lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung two days ago. The inquiry report has reportedly put the blame on Bharti over technical grounds and also cleared Delhi Police any misdoings. According to sources, it has found prima facie evidence against Bharti for his role in the so-called ‘raid’. 

The raid by Bharti and his supporters had targeted Ugandan women, who Bharti had claimed were part of a drugs and prostitution racket in Khirki Extension, South Delhi. The same night, Rakhi Birla who was then the Women and Child Welfare Minister, tried to force the police to arrest suspects involved in an alleged dowry harassment case.

Bharti sparked a controversy following his face-off with police officials and Ugandan nationals in south Delhi’s Khirki Extension neighbourhood on the intervening night of January 15 and 16. Bharti and Aam Aadmi Party supporters went to Khirki Extension after locals repeatedly complained about a drug and prostitution racket from a rented house there. Bharti had claimed that the police did not act on the locals’ complaints, which is why he personally went to the area with a police PCR team. When they reached the place, the police refused to ‘raid’ the alleged house or make any arrests. But on Bharti’s insistence, the police took a few Ugandan women to a hospital for tests and released them later.

Bharti’s vigilantism and the racial overtone prompted lieutenant-Governor to institute a judicial committee headed by retired ADJ Bl Garg to probe the case. The terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry had included investigating the roles of both Ministers as well as police officers.