Having failed to secure the custody of Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Bagga in a case of provocative remarks — following a daylong slugfest on Friday — the Punjab police on Saturday obtained a fresh non-bailable warrant against Bagga from a Mohali court.
A resolute Bagga — refusing to go on the backfoot — immediately moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the arrest warrant issued by the Mohali court. The High Court, too, acted with alacrity and ordered an urgent hearing of the plea, which was taken up just before midnight at the residence of Justice Anoop Chitkara. Close to midnight, electronic media reports said the court has ordered that no coercive action be taken against Bagga till the next hearing.
This gives him relief from execution of the fresh NBW. The next hearing will be on May 10. In his application, Bagga had said that the only intent of the prosecution is to arrest him and prejudice his liberties and to satisfy its political masters.
The Mohali judge had said he was issuing the NBW keeping in view the fact that sufficient opportunities had already been granted to the accused to join the investigation. The development came a day after the Punjab Police operation to arrest Bagga floundered, as the due process had not been allegedly followed while picking up the BJP leader from his residence. Later, the high-handed action got embroiled in an ugly face-off with Delhi and Haryana Police.
Earlier in the day, the Punjab and Haryana High Court adjourned proceedings in the matter of the alleged detention of Punjab police officials by the Delhi and Haryana police till May 10.
It was submitted by the police of the two states that they had not detained any Punjab police personnel in Haryana, said additional solicitor general of India, Satyapal Jain, appearing on behalf of the Delhi police.
CBI raids AAP MLA in bank fraud case
Meanwhile, in a significant development, a day after the Delhi police and the Punjab police clashed over the arrest of the BJP leader, the CBI on Saturday raided the premises of Punjab AAP MLA Jaswant Singh, in connection with Rs 40.92 crore loan fraud case registered against a company in which Singh was a director.
According to reports, the CBI said that about Rs 16.57 lakh, around 88 foreign currency notes, property documents, several bank passbooks and other incriminating documents were recovered from the premises linked to the accused.
However, reacting to the CBI searches, Singh held that he had donenothing wrong and accused the Central BJPof misusing central agencies to target its political opponents.
