In a day full of dramatic events, Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was arrested by the Punjab Police from Delhi early Friday morning. Matters escalated from there, with the police of two states—Punjab and Haryana—and one union territory—Delhi—getting involved. Things escalated to the extent that the police of one state, Punjab, got detained by the police of another state, Haryana, leading to an officer of the ADGP rank from Punjab forced to come seeking the release of his men. Bagga, meanwhile, was rescued by the Delhi Police with the help of the Haryana Police and was brought back to the national capital.
The Punjab police said that an FIR was registered on 1 May by Punjab State Cyber Crime, SAS Nagar against Bagga on the complaint of causing instigation, criminal intimidation to cause violence and imminent hurt by publishing false, and communal inflammatory statements on social media.
“The accused was served five notices to come and join the investigation. The notices were duly served upon. In spite of that, the accused deliberately did not join the probe,” Punjab Police said.
“Today morning following due process of law, Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was arrested from his home in Janakpuri, New Delhi. He is being brought here (Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Punjab) and will be produced in court,” Punjab Police said.
Later in the day, the Punjab Police, who were taking Bagga from Delhi to Mohali, was stopped by the Haryana Police in Kurukshetra and after which Bagga was released and he returned to Delhi. However, senior officials of Punjab Police got detained by Haryana Police in a kidnapping case filed by Tajinder Bagga’s father Preet Pal Singh Bagga with the Delhi Police.
Later in the evening, Punjab Police moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court demanding detaining Bagga in Haryana, which got rejected by the court.
Hours after BJP leader Tajinder Bagga was arrested from his Delhi house on Friday by the Punjab Police, Kamaljeet Kaur, mother of Bagga, accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of using Punjab police for “hooliganism.”
Speaking to ANI, Kamaljeet Kaur raised the question, “He (Arvind Kejriwal) filed a First Information Report (FIR) against him (Tajinder Bagga) that he is threatening to kill him. If Punjab Police is in his hands, will he do such hooliganism?” She further clarified Kejriwal’s statement over the “threat” from Bagga saying that her son had asked AAP to apologise for “mocking” the film Kashmir Files but as the party did not do so, Bagga warned that the BJP’s youth wing won’t let AAP leaders live peacefully.
“We said it’s not right to make fun of someone’s anguish and to mock Kashmir Files and that they (AAP) should apologise. As they didn’t seek an apology, he (Tajinder Bagga) said that Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) won’t let them live peacefully,” she added.
The FIR that was filed in Delhi’s Janakpuri police station were under Sections 452, 365, 342, 392, 295 34, on the complaint of Tajinder Bagga’s father, Preet Pal Singh Bagga, seeking urgent action into events before his son’s arrest. The FIR stated that a group of men, some of them carrying weapons barged into their house. Bagga was arrested from his Delhi house on Friday morning by the Punjab Police, based on a complaint registered with its cyber cell. Bagga allegedly threatened Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet during a protest on March 30. The complainant also submitted statements and video clips of Bagga to the police.
As the issue snowballed into a major controversy, political reactions started pouring in. The BJP alleged that the AAP government was misusing power to target its political opponents. BJP’s National General Secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santhosh condemned the arrest, and said, “Punjab Police is being used as personal mafia of Arvind Kejriwal. We condemn the arrest of Tajinder Bagga and assault on his father by police at the insistence of Aam Aadmi Party. Soon Karma will catch you.”
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal accused the AAP of “misusing” Punjab Police to target opposition parties. “Badlav doesn’t mean misusing Police to target political opponents. @BhagwantMann should imm stop registering cases & arresting Kejriwal’s opponents as done in case of @TajinderBagga. Pbis elected you to bring meaningful change, not to settle political scores of your party head,” the SAD chief tweeted.
“AAP has started hooliganism in the state and misusing the Punjab police. Punjab DGP should take responsibility for this matter. AAP has formed the government in Punjab on fake promises. They will not fulfill any promise,” Badal told reporters in Chandigarh.
Slamming the BJP over the action of the Delhi Police after party leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga’s arrest, AAP leader Atishi called the BJP a “party of goons”.
Atishi’s remarks came after the Delhi Police filed a case of abduction after Bagga was arrested by Punjab Police from his residence in the national capital early Friday morning. Speaking to ANI, the AAP leader said, “The BJP is a party of goons and can go to any extent to save its goons and rioters.”
“BJP misusing the government machinery. When the Punjab Police came to arrest the Tajinder Bagga, the party misused Delhi Police and the Haryana Police took illegal action to save a goon and a rioter,” Atishi said.
In March, Kejriwal had given a statement in the Assembly about not making The Kashmir Files tax-free, which was made on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Bagga had made criticised the Delhi CM in a tweet.
After he reached Delhi, Tajinder Bagga, who was arrested by Punjab Police earlier and later “rescued” by the Delhi Police, was taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital for a medical check-up.
WITH INPUTS FROM TARUNI GANDHI AND ANI.