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Ajnala police station attack: Court frames charges against MP Amritpal
The case stems from a February 2023 incident when the Sikh hardliner and his supporters, some brandishing swords and guns, allegedly broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with cops to secure the release of his associate Lovepreet Singh Toofan, who had been arrested in an attempt to murder case.
The district and sessions court on Thursday framed charges against Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh in connection with the 2023 attack on Ajnala police station.
The court framed charges against the radical Sikh preacher for attempt to murder, inflicting grievous harm, obstructing public servants from discharging their duties, criminal conspiracy, damaging government property, and issuing death threats while leading an unlawful assembly. Amritpal appeared in court via video conferencing.
Additional sessions judge Parinder Singh dropped charges under the Arms Act and for destruction of evidence after defence counsel Ritu Raj Singh Sandhu argued that no weapons were recovered from the accused.
The case stems from a February 2023 incident when the Sikh hardliner and his supporters, some brandishing swords and guns, allegedly broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with cops to secure the release of his associate Lovepreet Singh Toofan, who had been arrested in an attempt to murder case.
Amritpal was arrested in Moga’s Rode village on April 23, 2023, two months after the Ajnala incident.
Currently, the MP is lodged in the high-security Central Jail at Dibrugarh in Assam. He was arrested in the Ajnala case after his detention under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) expired on April 23. A Punjab Police team travelled to Dibrugarh to execute his arrest after the Punjab and Haryana high court allowed the state government’s request to keep the radical Sikh leader in Assam jail instead of shifting him to Punjab, citing law and order concerns.
The Ajnala case trial had not started due to Amritpal’s detention under the NSA. On April 30, the police filed a 1200-page chargesheet.
Charges have been framed against 41 persons, including Amritpal, under multiple sections of the IPC, including 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault on public servant), 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharge of duties), 506 (criminal intimidation), 332 (causing hurt to a public servant), 333 (causing grievous hurt to deter a public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 427 (mischief causing damage), 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly).
Advocate Sandhu said the next date of hearing of the case is May 16, during which the prosecution will present evidence to support the charges.
Nine of Amritpal’s aides were brought back to Punjab last year after the government decided not to extend their NSA detention, and they are now in the state police custody.
Apart from Papalpreet, a key associate and media adviser, the others include Kulwant Singh Rauke, Harjeet Singh Chacha, Gurinder Pal Singh alias Guri, Gurmeet Singh Bukanwala, Bhagwant Singh, Daljit Singh Kalsi, Basant Singh and Varinder Singh alias Fauji. They are currently lodged in different jails across Punjab.
There are at least 12 FIRs pending against Amritpal and his supporters, apart from the Ajnala case. The FIRs have been registered in Amritsar (Rural), Jalandhar, and Moga and are primarily linked to incidents of violence and intimidation.
