Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was arrested on Friday morning from his Delhi residence by the Punjab police on charges of making provocative statements, promoting religious enmity, and criminal intimidation. 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.
In a video statement, Delhi BJP spokesperson Naveen Kumar Jindal claimed around 50 cops barged into Mr Bagga's Delhi home at around 8:30 in the morning and arrested him. "He couldn't even wear his turban," he said.
Mr Bagga's father has claimed 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."
The Punjab police say they had sent notice to Mr Bagga five times to join the investigation but he refused to comply.
Mr Bagga will now be taken to a Punjab court after legal action in Delhi. The complaint was registered with the cyber cell at Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar in Punjab's Mohali district.
Mr Bagga has been very vocal against Arvind Kejriwal on social media. He came under fire from the AAP, which is ruling both Delhi and Punjab, for his tweet against Mr Kejriwal over 'The Kashmir Files' movie.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Naresh Balyan in a tweet indicated the arrest was over Mr Bagga's alleged threat to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
"Punjab police arrested a leader from the party of hooligans, BJP, Tajinder Bagga. He had threatened Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with 'won't let you live'," he tweeted.
Delhi police say the Punjab police did not give them any prior information regarding the arrest.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, without mentioning Mr Bagga's arrest, attacked Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of misusing the Punjab police to target political opponents.
"Arvind Kejriwal's brazen misuse of Punjab police to target political opponents is not unexpected. He had been raging for this. But this won't go down well. We will fight to secure every single karyakarta of ours and ensure that Kejriwal learns how to handle power the hard way...," he said in a tweet.
BJP leaders have protested against the police action saying it's against freedom of speech.
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