Bharti seeks ‘mediation’ with wife Lipika to settle disputes

Appearing for Bharti, senior lawyer Gopal Subramaniam raised serious objections on the credibility of Dwarka court for granting police custody as Bharti’s anticipatory bail plea was pending in the Supreme Court, on which the court decided to hear the case on Monday.

“We kept the appeal pending because we wanted to know if the lady (Lipika Mitra) is ready to go for mediation,” said the Bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy. 

The court also took on record a letter written by Bharti’s lawyer on his behalf that he was willing for a settlement with his wife through <g data-gr-id="23">mediation</g> for the sake of their children.

“We produced the letter in the court on which the court issued notice to his wife Lipika Mitra to be present in the court on Monday to present her views on mediation,” said Vijay Agarwal, advocate on record for Somnath Bharti. Appearing on behalf of Bharti, senior lawyer Gopal Subramaniam demanded the court to grant Bharti interim bail till October 5. 

Meanwhile, Bharti was produced in a Dwarka court on Thursday which extended his police custody till October 4. In the court, Bharti alleged that police tortured him by forcing him to sleep on the floor of the lock up and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) R A Sanjeev even tried to disrobe and beat him up.

The police, however, denied all the charges and alleged Bharti was non-cooperative. “The allegations are completely false. We know the sensitivity of the <g data-gr-id="26">matter</g> but he is non-cooperative with the investigating team,” said Deependar Pathak, Joint Commissioner of Police (South-west). 

Opposing his bail plea in the local court, police said his custody was necessary for further investigation as the cops want him to go for site visits to Agra and his other hideouts in Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.