Midnight raid: Broke no laws, media spreading rumours, says Somnath Bharti

Under fire for his alleged role in leading a midnight raid to bust a sex and drug racket in the city, Delhi Minister Somnath Bharti today accused the media of spreading rumours against him even as he claimed that he had not violated any laws during the incident.

"No raid was carried out by me. I was approached by the people of my constituency with a problem and, as the sitting MLA, went to the site at an odd hour... And I did carry police with me. I was not there alone.

"However, later rumours were spread by the media for whatever reasons," Bharti, the Delhi Law Minister, told a TV news channel.

"At no point was the law violated or police asked to go against the law. Had the police been honest, such a thing (sex and drug racket) would not have been happening under their nose," he said.
He claimed that three Ugandan women had approached him for help saying that they were victims of the alleged sex and drug racket in south Delhi's Khirki Extension area.

"Had the police been honest in their work, then it could have saved these three girls from being violated," he said.

Bharti said he had also requested social activist Kavita Krishnan to visit the area and rescue the three women.

Bharti has drawn flak from opposition parties and civil society for allegedly leading a group of locals on a raid against some African nationals in the Khirki Extension area on the intervening night of January 15-16.