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Uttarakhand police identify 150 Amritpal followers on social media
The Uttarakhand police said they have increased vigil on the Nepal and Uttar Pradesh borders after a lookout notice was issued by the Punjab police against Amritpal Singh and his aides
The Udham Singh Nagar police in Uttarakhand have identified around 150 followers of Khalistan preacher and Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh on social media, officials said on Sunday.
Most of these people were counselled and some were let off with challans under the Police Act, the officials said.
Police said they have increased vigil on the Nepal and Uttar Pradesh borders after a lookout notice was issued by the Punjab police against Amritpal Singh and his aides.
Manjunath TC, senior superintendent of police of US Nagar district, said, “We have been issued an alert in the district with regard to Amritpal Singh and his aides. Vigil has also been increased on the borders of the district including that of Nepal.”
“Our social media vigilance team prepared a list of followers of Singh on social media from the district and is counselling and challaning them. So far, 150 people have been identified,” he said.
The Uttarakhand police’s special task force (STF) has started a search for Singh and his associates.
MP Singh, in charge of Kumaon’s STF, said, “ Along with police, our team is also searching for Amritpal Singh and his associates.”
The Uttarakhand police have sounded an alert in three districts bordering with other states – Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar -- in view of Singh and his aides entering the state, a senior police official said.
According to police officials, Baljit Kaur, a resident of Haryana’s Shahabad, who was arrested for giving shelter to Singh, has told police that Singh had made some calls when he was at her place and the indications were that from Haryana they were planning to go towards Uttarakhand.
The Udham Singh Nagar police recently booked a 30-year-old man for allegedly uploading a social media post in support of Singh, a police officer said.
The post went viral on social media and had been widely shared and liked by users, police stated.
According to senior officials in Uttarakhand, five companies of Paramilitary Force and an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have also been deployed in the district to nab Singh and his associates. The Udham Singh Nagar district in the state is dominated by the Sikh community. They originally migrated from Pakistan during the partition.Many from Punjab took shelter here during 1980s and 90s, when terrorism was at its peak in Punjab.
