27 April,2026 12:36 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Demonstrators raised slogans such as “Traitor Raghav Chadha” during Sunday`s protest. FILE PIC
Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against eight Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including Mumbai Working President Reuben Mascarenhas, after a protest outside the residence of Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha on Sunday, April 26, turned intense.
During the protest, demonstrators raised slogans such as "Traitor Raghav Chadha", expressing their anger over his reported exit from the party. Several demonstrators were detained by police.
The case has been filed under Sections 189(2), 189(3), and 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act.
According to police officers, the FIR pertains to alleged unlawful assembly and protest activities against Chadha and six other Rajya Sabha members who merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Upper House.
The Khar Police had intervened after the protest grew intense. Detainees were later issued notices and released.
The development follows a major political shift last week, when Chadha and six other AAP Members of Parliament (MPs) announced that they were leaving the party and joining the BJP. The move was presented as a group merger rather than individual defections - a distinction that holds significance under India's anti-defection law.
AAP had 10 members in the Rajya Sabha. With seven MPs moving together, they crossed the required two-thirds threshold, enabling them to seek protection under the provisions of the anti-defection law.
The issue has triggered a wider political and legal debate, not only about the defections but also about earlier reform proposals related to such laws, some of which Chadha himself had supported.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has sought an appointment with President Droupadi Murmu to present his case regarding the AAP's call to disqualify its rebel members. Chadha had been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Raghav Chadha on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which he co-founded, alleging a "toxic work environment" and claiming that the party's internal functioning had deteriorated significantly in recent years.
In a self-made video statement, Chadha said he entered politics after leaving a promising career as a Chartered Accountant and dedicated nearly 15 years of his "prime youth" to building the party.
"I didn't come into politics to build a career. I became a founding member of a political party. I gave fifteen years of my prime youth to this party," Chadha said in the video.
However, he alleged that the organisation had changed over time and was no longer functioning in its original spirit.
"But today, this party is no longer the same old party. Today, there's a toxic work environment in this party. You are stopped from working. You are stopped from speaking in Parliament," he said.
Chadha further alleged that the party had fallen under the control of "a few corrupt and compromised people" who were working for personal interests rather than public service.
"For the last few years, I felt that perhaps I'm the right man but in the wrong party," he added, outlining three options he had considered before deciding to leave.
(With IANS and ANI inputs)
