Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga arrest: Delhi-Haryana & Punjab police face-off

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 Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and accused the AAP chief of pursuing vendetta through the state police. AAP 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 Punjab and Haryana High Court against the ‘detention’ of its police team in Kurukshetra, Haryana. 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 36-year-old Bagga from Punjab police.