E-Paper
Amritpal arrested in Punjab after 37 days
Punjab Police have been on a high alert since Singh escaped on March 18.
Punjab Police arrested radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh on Sunday morning, ending a 37-day hunt that began after the 30-year-old dramatically escaped a massive police search party.
Singh, whose rise reignited concerns that the separatist Khalistani movement could find new footing, was arrested from Rode village of Moga district, where he was believed to have arrived the previous evening after being on the run for weeks. Police said Singh was left with no choice but to surrender after being surrounded, though other versions of the event appeared to suggest that he may have surfaced at the village, and in particular at a gurdwara, with the objective of giving himself up. Rode is the ancestral village of slain Khalistani ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale.
Read | Those who try to disturb peace will face action: Punjab CM Mann
“Since Amritpal was inside the gurdwara, in keeping with the maryada (sanctity) of the place, police did not go inside and waited for him to come outside to arrest him. He was hardly left with any option as he knew that the entire village was surrounded by heavy police deployment,” said Inspector General of Police (IGP headquarters), Sukhchain Singh Gill.
Immediately after his arrest, Singh, who was detained under provisions of the National Security Act (NSA), was taken to the Bathinda Air Force Station, from where he was flown to the Dibrugarh jail in Assam, where NSA detainees linked with his Waris Punjab De outfit have been kept.
Four videos appeared emerged after Singh’s arrest, showing him offering prayers and addressing the morning congregation at the gurdwara before policemen in plain clothes took him away in a vehicle.
“I would have fled to any other country, but I did not do so and decided to surrender at the place from where I had started this mission of awakening Sikhs and helping addicts shun drugs after my Dastar Bandi (ritual of formally donning a turban) from this village. After taking blessings of the Guru, I will offer my arrest,” Singh is seen as saying in one of the videos.
The police, however, refuted the claim. “The police created relentless pressure on Amritpal in the last 37 days. We have been chasing his each and every movement during this period. He was detained under NSA in a joint operation by the intelligence wing and Amritsar rural police. Surrender theories are false,” the IGP said at a press conference.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said that he knew about the operation since Saturday evening. “I preferred not to sleep throughout the night to ensure that the operation goes smoothly without any bloodshed. I was taking updates of the operation every 15 minutes to half an hour,” he said.
In a video message in Hindi, the CM said that he would have arrested Amritpal and his aides on March 18 itself using force, “but we didn’t because we wanted this operation to be smooth and without harm to anyone”.
Taking a dig at Amritpal, Mann said, “A few people tried to misguide the youth in order to get them to take up arms, but that agenda has been defeated by Punjabis, who have seen dark days before.”
Punjab Police have been on a high alert since Singh escaped on March 18. The crackdown on Waris Punjab De chief was launched about three weeks after his supporters stormed a police station in Ajnala near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested associate.
Apart from NSA, Singh and his associates have been booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants. With Singh’s arrest, the total number of people arrested under NSA reached 10.
