Police await sanction against AAP's Somnath Bharti eight months after Khirki Extension incident

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has been waiting for eight months to get a prosecution sanction against Aam Aadmi Party legislator Somnath Bharti in connection with a raid that allegedly targeted African women in Khirki Extension last year.

For the trial over the raid to commence, the police require sanction under Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (prosecution for offences against the state and for criminal conspiracy to commit such offence). That has, however, been caught up in a bureaucratic tangle, officials said.

Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung, who is the competent authority to grant the sanction, is awaiting the opinion of the Delhi government’s home and legal departments.