Team News Riveting
Chandigarh, April 23
Khalistani sympathiser and head of ‘Waris Punjab De’ Amritpal Singh was on Sunday arrested by the Punjab Police in Moga district where he had taken shelter in a Gurudwara.
Singh has been on the run since March 18. The Punjab Police had launched a crackdown on Amritpal and members of his outfit ‘Waris Punjab De’ on March 18, a month after his supporters stormed a police station in Ajnala. The pro-Khalistan activist was finally arrested after 36 days.
Inspector General of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill, who is the spokesperson of Punjab Police, said police maintained relentless pressure for 35 days to catch Amritpal. He was arrested at 6.45 am from Rode.
“We had special inputs that he was hiding in Rode village gurdwara. Police had surrounded the village but we didn’t enter the gurdwara as the maryada of a religious place is supreme for us. Amritpal courted arrest as he had no place to run,” said Sukhchain Singh.
Punjab Police, its Intelligence wing, as well as local units from Amritsar Rural and Moga were involved in the operation, he said. Amritpal is being shifted to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, where eight of his aides are already being held under the National Security Act (NSA).
Several cases have been lodged against Amritpal and his associates for allegedly spreading disharmony, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and obstructing the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
The pictures of the radical preacher while being taken into custody surfaced on social media and floating the story that Amritpal, wearing a traditional white robe, had surrendered. A video that surfaced on social media, Amritpal Singh purportedly addressed a gathering at a gurdwara in Rode village in Moga, and said he was “surrendering”.
Amritpal Singh had earlier escaped the police dragnet twice — first on March 18 in Jalandhar district by switching vehicles and then again on March 28 in Hoshiarpur when he returned to Punjab along with his key associate Papalpreet Singh.
Papalpreet, who is considered to be Amritpal’s mentor and who has allegedly been in contact with Pakistan’s ISI, has been arrested.
