3 min readNew DelhiMay 9, 2022 08:47 AM IST
First published on: May 8, 2022 at 08:42 PM IST
Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, who was in the midst of a push and pull between police from three states, Sunday told The Indian Express that he had no intention of physically harming Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and that the Punjab Police was going after him for minor things instead of working to bust drug cartels.
“There is an FIR against me which says that I wanted to kill Kejriwal; all I had said was that till he apologises (for his statement on The Kashmir Files), I will not let him live peacefully. This does not mean that I had any intention of physically harming him… The FIR is not for any derogatory words I may have used…,” he said.
The April 1 case against Bagga is based on a complaint by Dr Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, AAP Punjab spokesperson and party in-charge of Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency. The FIR quotes Ahluwalia as saying that comments made by Bagga in the media and on Twitter amounted to “criminal intimidation… to cause violence… imminent hurt to Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders in a pre-designed, well planned, orchestrated manner”. Sections invoked against him include IPC 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
On Saturday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted Bagga protection from any coercive action till the next date of hearing.
“My party did not go after Kejriwal or arrest him when he called the PM a coward and psychopath. I think if Indira Gandhi would have been alive, she would have been very proud of him,” he said. Bagga was referring to a tweet by Kejriwal in 2015 after the CM’s office was raided by the CBI following allegations of corruption against his secretary at the time, Rajendra Kumar.
Speaking about Friday’s events, Bagga said, “I woke up around 8.30 that morning when two police officers came… we gave them water. Suddenly, 14-15 more people arrived… Soon, there were 50 police officers in several vehicles… They snatched my phone and those of my family members. They did not allow me to wear either my patka or pagdi… Later, a woman police officer gave it to me, it was kept inside their car. In my religion, one is not allowed to step outside without a turban… they (police) could have at least extended this courtesy.”
At Kurukshetra, where the Punjab Police team was stopped, the Haryana Police asked for papers like DD entry and permission from the magistrate, which they could not produce, he said, adding, “After that, I was brought back to Delhi.”
Celebrations as Tajinder Singh Bagga arrived at his home in New Delhi on Friday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
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