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Papalpreet Singh. Who is Amritpal Singh's ‘mentor’, who helped him escape
Papalpreet has a post-metric engineering diploma and has worn many hats over the past years - anti-drug crusader, freelance journalist, pro-Khalistani writer.
The right-hand man of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, Papalpreet, 42, was working with the radical Sikh leader ever since he returned from Dubai in 2022. Papalpreet, who has a post-metric diploma in engineering, has donned many hats in the past few years as an anti-drug crusader, freelance journalist and pro-Khalistani writer.
Officially he was holding the post of media advisor to Amritpal. Papalpreet had been on the Intelligence agencies’ radar because of his participation in radical and Khalistani activities.
A Punjab Police dossier shows that he passed his class 10 from a convent school in Kathunangal. Before joining Amritpal, he had closely worked with pro-Khalistan face Simranjeet Singh Mann’s Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), Balwant Singh Gopala of Sikh Youth Federation (Bhindranwale) and Sharanjit Singh Rataul of Sikh Youth Front.
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A resident of village Marari in the Majitha assembly segment in Amritsar district, Papalpreet belongs to a peasant family having around 2 acres of land.
He floated an organisation named “Sikh Youth Front” in 2015 and in 2016 joined Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and was appointed as its organisational secretary.
As a freelance journalist, he worked with various pro-Sikh web channels. He also used to write articles for pro-Khalistan periodicals including ‘Khalsa Fatehnama’. Nobody in his family has a direct link with the militancy.
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In 2019, he along with other activists initiated a drive against the drug peddlers in the Majitha area. During those days, he was booked under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code along with his supporters.
Police said Papalpreet, in the past couple of months, received a lot of money from pro-Khalistan elements settled abroad.
He was a supporter of Deep Sidhu, founder of the Waris Punjab De outfit. Sidhu died in a road accident in 2022. Later, he joined Amritpal when he took over the running of the organisation as a successor of Sidhu. He coordinated with the media on Amritpal’s behalf and remained by his side.
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“He was a think tank of Amritpal on various Khalistani issues. During TV interviews, on Papalpreet’s instructions, Amritpal would often ask his gunmen to roam around him so that the camera catches that. Projecting Amritpal as Bhindranwale 2.0 in the media was his brainchild,” the police dossier on Papalpreet, accessed by Hindustan Times, reveals.
An intelligence official said Papalpreet and Amritpal knew each other much before the latter came to India. “Papalpreet arranged all the hideouts of Amritpal when they were on the run right from Patiala, Shahabad in Haryana, Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh and then in Hoshiarpur. Papalpreet knew each and every pro-Khalistani dera and had good contacts through his foreign links. He knew sleeper cells of Khalistani militants as well,” said a senior intelligence official.
