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Amritpal’s right-hand man held in Amritsar
Papalpreet, 42, is accused of helping Amritpal Singh escape the police crackdown and accompanying the fugitive
Punjab Police on Monday arrested Papalpreet Singh, a key aide of radical preacher Amritpal Singh, on charges of murder, kidnapping, as well as under the National Security Act (NSA), marking a major breakthrough in the three-week-long chase to nab the latter after he slipped past the authorities last month.
Papalpreet, 42, is accused of helping Amritpal Singh escape the police crackdown and accompanying the fugitive. He was arrested from the Kathunangal area of Amritsar district, said police.
“Papalpreet Singh was nabbed in Amritsar district this morning and detained under the National Security Act (NSA). He is wanted in six cases,” Punjab Police’s spokesperson and inspector general (headquarters) Sukhchain Singh Gill said in a hurriedly convened press conference. He didn’t elaborate other operational details and took no questions.
The six cases include the February 23 siege by thousands of Singh’s supporters of a police station in Ajnala town, which forced the state government to free a key aide who was accused of abduction. The others including kidnapping and threatening people to arrange stay and travel when he was on run with Amritpal.
Papalpreet Singh is considered the most prominent among a string of aides who helped Amritpal Singh — the chief of Waris Punjab De who is accused of stoking separatism, spreading communal disharmony and attacking policemen — mount a dramatic escape from Mehatpur town on March 18, and then seek shelter in a nearby gurdwara, before absconding again. He was seen again with Amritpal near Hoshiarpur village on March 28, before vanishing again.
His arrest is considered important because police say he is the brain behind the rise of Amritpal Singh. Seven of Amritpal’s other aides are currently behind bars under the National Security Act but Papalpreet is the most significant arrest in the case yet.
Police said that Papalpreet may be moved to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, where Amritpal’s other alleged aides are currently lodged.
His family members said he wasn’t in contact with them since March 18. Papalpreet’s mother Mandhir Kaur said he was working as a media adviser to Amritpal. “We want justice. He should not be tortured. We are with him,” she said.
The IGP said the operation was conducted by Amritsar Rural Police. A senior police official said that Papalpreet was found to be active in the area in the past four-five days. “It was a human intelligence-based operation planned at the Amritsar Rural police level,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
Papalpreet’s native village of Marrari Kalan is nearly 10km away from where he was nabbed.
An engineering graduate, Papalpreet is considered to be Amritpal’s mentor and has allegedly been in contact with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, said a senior intelligence official. He was found to be active in many protests propelled by radical elements, said the officer.
Punjab Police also say that Papalpreet managed hideouts by using his contacts with two women in Patiala and a third in Haryana’s Kurukshetra.
Amritpal Singh and his followers are facing seven first information reports across Punjab involving allegations of spreading communal disharmony, attempt to murder and attacking policemen. The most prominent among them is related to the February 23 Ajnala siege.
Singh, who has fashioned himself after radical leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, is linked to a larger conspiracy involving the Khalistani secessionist movement, with intelligence agencies saying he was fast radicalising young men in the border state. On March 29, he released some unverified audio and video clips, calling for a holy Sikh conclave.
The crackdown on Amritpal and his supporters began on March 18 when a police cavalcade intercepted his car near Mehatpur town when he was on his way to Bathinda to address a gathering. But Amritpal changed cars and managed to mount a dramatic escape on a motorcycle, halting for a short while at a local gurdwara before getting away with the help of two accomplices.
