Row after Punjab cops arrest Bagga, Delhi police bring him back
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was arrested by Punjab Police from his home, stopped in Haryana while being taken to Punjab and brought back to the national capital by Delhi Police hours later, a Friday of dramatic developments that drew in the police of three states and led to a BJP-AAP slugfest.
The BJP accused Punjab Police of “abducting” its leader, who has been vocal in his criticism of Arvind Kejriwal, and accused the AAP chief and Delhi chief minister of pursuing vendetta through the state police. The Aam Aadmi Party rejected the charge and said the Delhi BJP spokesperson was arrested for allegedly stoking communal tension in Punjab.
Delhi Police registered a case of kidnapping based on a complaint by Bagga’s father Preetpal Singh. The Punjab government, on its part, moved the high court against the “detention” of its police team in Kurukshetra, Haryana.The AAP rules Delhi and Punjab while the BJP governs Haryana. However, Delhi Police comes under the Union Home ministry and not the AAP-led Delhi government.
As tempers ran high with multiple claims and counterclaims coming in with dizzying rapidity, Preetpal Singh alleged that a team of 15- 20 Punjab Police personnel barged into their Janakpuri home around 8 am, punched him in the face and did not allow his son to put on his turban while they were arresting him.
He said the family, including Bagga, had finished breakfast when two Punjab Police personnel entered their west Delhi home. The two policemen had visited the family earlier as well.
“We offered them tea… A few minutes later, 10- 15 Punjab Police personnel broke in. They dragged Tajinder out and did not allow him to cover his head.
“When I tried to make a video of the incident, my mobile phone was snatched and I was punched in the face and forced to sit down,” Bagga’s elderly father told reporters. Soon after, the cavalcade of vehicles with Bagga was on its way from Delhi to Mohali in Punjab, about 250 km away, when it was held up in Kurukshetra, about halfway between the two cities. Asked why the Punjab Police team was stopped, a Haryana Police official said there was information that Bagga had been “forcibly” picked up from his residence. “We have to verify and crosscheck these things,” he said.
In the high-voltage drama that followed, a Delhi Police team reached Kurukshetra and took ‘custody’ of Bagga from Punjab Police. The exact reasons for Bagga’s arrest and the legality of it were not clear. The Punjab cops had not informed the local police in Delhi before arresting Bagga, a Delhi Police official said.
Delhi BJP leaders, including state unit president Adesh Gupta, held their own press conference and slammed Kejriwal.