AAP cries councillor 'kidnapped'; BJP rubbishes claim

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday accused the BJP of 'kidnapping' its councillor Ram Chander, with the saffron party denying the charges even as the 'abducted' member returned to his residence.

Upon his return, Chander claimed that he was threatened on the pretext of being framed in ED-CBI cases by the opposition outfit.

Ram Chander, who is a councillor from Ward No 28, was one of the five members who joined the BJP last Sunday. However, a few days later, he had a change of heart after he saw Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in his dream and returned to AAP, he said.

Later, in a video message, he said that he was taken by some people to BJP headquarters.

"There they threatened me saying I would be framed by ED and CBI. My son Akash called the police helpline while our senior party leaders called the police commissioner. When they (BJP) got to know about it, they sent me back home," Chander said in the video message.

"I want to tell BJP, I am not scared of ED and CBI. I have done nothing wrong. I am a soldier of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal," he said in the video shared by AAP.

On Sunday, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh shared a video of Ram Chander's son Akash on X alleging that his father had been kidnapped In the video, Akash says, "My father received a call from an ex-councillor of BJP saying, 'We are standing downstairs near your house to meet you'. My father went downstairs to his office. What we have learnt is that there were four to five people, who threatened my father that he would be implicated by ED-CBI and they have taken him. We are searching for him."

Reacting to Singh's post, senior party leader Manish Sisodia reiterated the charges levelled by Akash.

Taking to X, AAP MLA and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak accused the BJP of "making a mockery of law and order" in Delhi.

"Councillor Ram Chander ji from Aam Aadmi Party was kidnapped by BJP councillor ... along with his goons and no one knows where they have taken Ramchand ji," Pathak said on X in Hindi.

"We are giving this warning to the entire Bharatiya Janata Party that if Ram Chander ji is not brought back to his home in the next one to one-and-a-half hours, we will create such an uproar that the entire BJP will be shaken," he added in his post.

Hitting back, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor accused Sisodia and the AAP MCD in-charge of "lies" and "sensationalism".

"Whether councillor Ram Chander is in your party or not, we are not bothered. It is certain that he is sitting at his residence while you are spreading rumours," Kapoor reacted in a post on X in Hindi.

In the lead-up to the zonal ward committee elections of MCD on September 4, both AAP and BJP have claimed that councillors from the other side are ready to switch allegiance and defect from one party to another.