Punjab police in dock over botched Delhi operation

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 6

Questions are being raised over botched operation to arrest BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga from his Delhi residence. The mishandling of the case resulted in a faceoff between the Punjab Police and their Delhi counterpart and widespread criticism from AAP’s political opponents. The development could see heads rolling in the state police.

Procedural lapses

A police functionary said: “As the arrest was to be made outside Punjab, the raiding police had to inform the respective local police station. As per the procedure, a police official of the local area had to accompany the raiding party at the time of arrest.”

On April 4, the Cyber Cell of the Punjab Police registered a case against Bagga for instigation, incitement and criminal intimidation to cause violence, use of force, imminent hurt in an orchestrated manner by making or publishing provocative, false and communal inflammatory statements through his interview given to media and posts on Twitter.

Sources in the Punjab Police said the state police should have procured an arrest warrant from the Mohali court. “As the arrest was to be made outside the state, the raiding police have to intimate the respective local police station. As per the procedure, a police official of the local area has to accompany the raiding party at the time of arrest,” said a police functionary.

The Punjab Police however have claimed five notices were served upon the BJP leader to join the investigation. As he did not join the investigation, he was arrested from his home.

However, the Delhi Police claimed the Punjab police did not intimate them before arresting Bagga and themselves took him into custody. On the other hand, the Mohali SSP also wrote to the Kurukshetra SSP, claiming illegal detention of the Punjab Police team on the Karnal-Kurukshetra highway, saying itamounted to interference in the administration of criminal justice.

On the other hand, the Delhi Police got search warrant from the Dwarka court and came to know that the Haryana Police apprehended the Punjab cops near Pipili. The Punjab Police face a case of kidnapping and abduction.

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