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Papalpreet Singh, Amritpal Singh's ‘mentor’, brought to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail
Amritpal Singh’s close aide Papalpreet Singh, who was arrested on Monday, was sent to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail.
Fugitive ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh’s close associate Papalpreet Singh, who was arrested from the Kathunangal area of Amritsar rural district by the Punjab Police on Monday, was brought to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail.
A team of Amritsar-rural district police took him on a flight from Amritsar airport, senior superintendent of police (SSP-rural) Satinder Singh confirmed the development. Outside the Amritsar airport, Papalpreet Singh told reporters that he was fine.
The right-hand man of Amritpal Singh, Papalpreet, 42, was working with the radical Sikh leader ever since he returned from Dubai in 2022.
Several photos have surfaced showing Papalpreet Singh and Amritpal Singh together, following their escape from the Punjab Police's manhunt. On March 30, Amritpal Singh, a pro-Khalistan leader, appeared in a video and claimed that he was not a fugitive and would soon present himself to the world. He dismissed the idea that he had fled or abandoned his associates, urging his detractors to dismiss such notions.
On March 18, the Punjab Police launched an operation against Amritpal and his associates. Since March 18, Amritpal has been on the run, following a massive manhunt by the Punjab Police. The crackdown occurred three weeks after Amritpal's supporters stormed the Ajnala police station in Amritsar on February 23, demanding the release of Lovepreet Toofan, one of his close aides.
Who is Papalpreet Singh?
> 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.
> 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.
> 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.
> 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.
(With inputs from Ravinder Vasudeva in Chandigarh)
