Congress denies Ramdev's allegation of 'conspiracy' in kidnapping case

The Congress Party on Monday denied Baba Ramdev's allegation that the party was involved in framing his brother and ashram on charges of kidnapping and said the yoga guru was in the habit of seeking publicity at any cost.

"Baba Ramdev is fond of attracting publicity. On every issue, he finds that it is his right to target the Gandhi-Nehru family, hoping that it would help media give him publicity. He has been attempting this since the beginning," Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said.

Asking Ramdev to approach the law and order authorities and give them answers in the kidnapping case, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh denied Ramdev's claims, and said that the ruling party had no hand in the charges levelled by him and his brother.

"If the family members of Baba Ramdev have forcefully abducted and kidnapped a person, what possible conspiracy can the Congress or myself have hatched?" Singh asked.

"If they have kidnapped, then they must answer to the police," he added.

Earlier today, Baba Ramdev charged the ruling Congress Party of stooping to new low levels to settle political scores, and said that charges of kidnapping levelled against his brother and the ashram was a conspiracy to malign his image.

"Congress is targeting me and trying to portray me as a terrorist, or criminal. I am a pawn in a political game. Congress is stooping to low levels to defame me," he told media in Indore today, after reports of his aide being kidnapped by Ramdev's brother came to light.

"There is a limit for everything. I am being made a victim of political game plans," he added.

Reacting strongly to reports of police carrying out raids on his ashram in Haridwar, where they reportedly rescued a man who had been kidnapped, Ramdev said that the whole kidnapping episode was a sham, and added that the 'kidnapped' man was a thief who had stolen money from the ashram.

A case has been filed against Rambharat, brother of Ramdev, and four others for allegedly kidnapping and physically assaulting Nitin Tyagi, who worked in Patanjali Yogpeeth.

According to reports, hundreds of BJP workers protested outside the Kankhal Police Station over the FIR filed by the police.