Tajinder Bagga was arrested in the morning from his home following due process of law, the Punjab Police said while claiming that despite being served five notices, he did not join the investigation. Last month, the Punjab Police filed charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation. The case was registered on a complaint of AAP leader Sunny Ahluwalia, a resident of Mohali.
The FIR registered on April 1 referred to Bagga’s remarks on March 30, when he was part of a BJP youth wing protest outside the Chief Minister’s residence in Delhi. The Delhi BJP spokesperson came under fire from the AAP, which is ruling both Delhi and Punjab, for his tweet against Kejriwal over ‘The Kashmir Files’ film. Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was seen being dragged out by the Punjab Police from his residence in the national capital on Tuesday in connection with a case registered against him in Mohali last month.
In a video statement, Delhi BJP spokesperson Naveen Kumar Jindal claimed around 50 cops barged into Bagga’s Delhi home at around 8:30 in the morning and arrested him. “He couldn’t even wear his turban,” he said. Bagga’s father supported the claim and said that he was punched in the face when he attempted to capture the incident on video.
Talking to news agency ANI, he said, “This morning, 10-15 police personnel came to our home and dragged Tajinder out. When I picked up my mobile phone to record a video of the incident, police took me to another room and punched me in the face.” As the situation spiraled with the AAP and the BJP trading charges, the Delhi Police registered a case of kidnapping based on a complaint by Mr Bagga’s father that some people came to his house in Delhi’s Janakpuri around 8 am and took away his son.
The Punjab police team taking Mr Bagga to Mohali was stopped en route by Haryana cops after the Delhi police registered a kidnapping case based on a complaint by Mr Bagga’s father. Haryana police surrounded the Punjab police vehicle carrying Mr Bagga and escorted them off the highway to a police station in Kurukshetra. They have called the Delhi police as well.
Aam Aadmi Party leaders have defended the arrest saying the Punjab police are acting in an unbiased way and the action was taken after Mr Bagga refused to cooperate with the investigation even after notices were sent five times. AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj has said they have collected information about Mr Bagga who he claims uses “obscene, toxic and hateful language” on social media.
Delhi police claimed they were not given any prior information regarding the arrest. Punjab police have, however, refuted the allegation saying prior intimation was given and one of their teams has been at the Janakpuri police station since last evening. Bagga was to be taken to a Punjab court. The complaint against him was registered with the cyber cell at Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar in Punjab’s Mohali district.
Last month, former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas and Congress leader Alka Lamba too were named in police cases over “inflammatory statements” against Arvind Kejriwal.
