Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh on the run at the same time as Punjab Police search him
Amritpal Singh, a Sikh preacher and Khalistan sympathizer, is on the run, in line with Punjab Police, and a manhunt remains to be underway to apprehend him.
“He’s now a fugitive and we’re in search of him and we are going to quickly arrest him,” Jalandhar Police Commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal advised reporters close to Nakodar in Jalandhar late Saturday evening.
Chahal knowledgeable that six to seven gunmen of Amritpal Singh have already been arrested.
The Punjab authorities had on Saturday launched a significant crackdown in opposition to Amritpal, with police arresting 78 members of an outfit headed by him, officers mentioned.
The elusive preacher himself, nonetheless, gave the police a slip and escaped their dragnet when his cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district.
Because the operation went underway, authorities beefed up safety at a number of places and suspended web and SMS companies within the state till Sunday midday.
Police on Saturday launched a “huge state-wide cordon and search operations (CASO)” within the state in opposition to the members of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ group, headed by Singh, in opposition to whom a number of prison circumstances have been registered.
Seventy-eight folks have been arrested to this point, whereas a number of others have been detained for questioning, they mentioned.
The police motion got here a day forward of the beginning of Amritpal Singh’s ‘Khalsa Wahir’ – a spiritual procession – which was to begin from Muktsar district.
Throughout their state-wide operation, police seized one .315 bore rifle, seven 12 bore rifles, one revolver, and 373 reside cartridges of various calibers, they mentioned.
Safety has been tightened at many locations in Punjab with intensive car checking. A police spokesperson mentioned that the followers of ‘Waris Punjab De’, or WPD, are concerned in 4 prison circumstances referring to spreading disharmony amongst courses, an try and homicide, an assault on police personnel, and creating obstructions within the lawful discharge of duties of public servants.
An FIR dated February 24 stands registered in opposition to WPD components for the assault on the Ajnala Police Station.
Final month, Amritpal and his supporters, a few of whom brandished swords and weapons, broke by way of barricades and barged into the Ajnala Police Station on the outskirts of the Amritsar metropolis, clashing with police over the discharge of certainly one of Amritpal’s aides.
After the incident, during which six policemen, together with a Superintendent of Police rank officer, suffered accidents, the AAP authorities within the state confronted extreme flak and was accused of kowtowing to extremists.
Dubai-returned Amritpal Singh was final 12 months anointed the pinnacle of ‘Waris Punjab De’, which was based by actor and activist Deep Sidhu who died in a highway accident in February final 12 months.
(With inputs from PTI)
