Amritpal Singh built firing range near village, say police on 6th day of manhunt
At a press conference, IGP, Punjab, Sukhchain Singh Gill, said they have discovered pictures of Anandpur Khalsa Fauj practicing the use of weapons along with other ‘incriminating material’.
The Punjab Police on Thursday discovered that fugitive ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh made a firing range near his village in Amritsar’s Jallupur Khera, and it also found pictures of Anandpur Khalsa Fauj (AKF), a militia allegedly being formed by the pro-Khalistani preacher, practicing the use of weapons along with other ‘incriminating material’. According to inspector general of police Sukhchain Singh Gill, pictures were found in the device recovered from Tejinder Singh Gill aka Gorkha Baba, Amritpal's gunman, who was arrested earlier today from Khanna area.
Also read: Who is Baljit Kaur — Haryana woman who gave shelter to Amritpal Singh?
A total of 207 people have been detained so far, of which, 30 are involved in criminal activities, Gill said at a press conference. He added that 177 people have been detained only for preventive custody and that action will be taken against ‘hardcore elements’. “Misguided and innocent youth will be released after giving them warning."
Detailing the route which Amritpal Singh followed while escaping, the senior police official said he crossed the Sutlej river using an old bridge and reached Ludhiana. From there he moved towards Kurukshetra and then to Shahabad in Haryana using a scooter.
The Haryana Police has also arrested a woman from Shahabad area who allegedly harboured Amritpal and his associate Papalpreet Singh, and later handed over to the Punjab Police. According to Gill, the woman said Papalpreet had arranged the stay at her house and that Amritpal had changed his attire there.
The state police earlier said that Amritpal Singh was trying to form AKF and had imprinted the name of this nascent outfit on bulletproof jackets and rifles that were recovered in an ongoing crackdown against the separatist leader and his followers. It further admitted to the ‘strong suspicion of foreign funding' along with an ‘ISI (Inter-Sevices Intelligence) angle’ with the case. "Going by the circumstances, it seems that ISI is involved and there is foreign funding as well,” Gill had said earlier.
