The Hoshiarpur Police in Punjab has arrested three persons, including a lawyer, for allegedly extending help to ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh, who is on the run since March 18. Two persons are reportedly from Jalandhar district and one belongs to Hoshiarpur's Babak village.
While officials remained silent over their arrest, sources said that they are in the custody of the crime investigation agency (CIA). Amritpal Singh and his aide-mentor Papalpreet Singh had escaped from Marnaiyan village on the night of March 28.
Earlier on April 10, two brothers from Rajpur Bhaiyan village were arrested on the suspicion that they provided shelter to the fugitives. They are in police remand.
Papalpreet Singh, considered to be a strategist of the outfit with close links to Pakistan's ISI, was arrested from Hoshiarpur last week and has been booked under the National Security Act (NSA). Amritpal Singh is still at large since the Punjab Police launched a massive crackdown against the Waris Punjab De and its members.
Papalpreet Singh was brought to Dibrugarh in Assam, over 2500 km away from the northern state, and lodged in the central jail along with seven others of the pro-Khalistan outfit on Tuesday last week.
{{/usCountry}}Papalpreet Singh was brought to Dibrugarh in Assam, over 2500 km away from the northern state, and lodged in the central jail along with seven others of the pro-Khalistan outfit on Tuesday last week.
{{/usCountry}}The crackdown on Waris Punjab De began weeks after Amritpal and his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested associate. The episode had raised fears of the return of Khalistani militancy to the state that borders Pakistan.