After the arrest of Amritpal Singh’s close associate Papalpreet Singh on April 10 from Hoshiarpur by Punjab police, the difficulties for Amritpal are increasing day by day as his wanted posters are pasted at Batala railway station in Punjab’s Gurdaspur on April 12.
Amritpal, who has been evading capture since March 18 as a result of a police crackdown, is identified as being sought by police in numerous cases in the posters put up by the Government railway police. The poster reads, “Whosoever has any information about him (Amritpal) can share it on the mobile numbers given below.
Appropriate reward will be given on providing the information”. The poster also mentioned that the informer’s name would be kept confidential.
Last month, police initiated a significant campaign of cracking down against the Khalistan supporter and members of his group, “Waris Punjab De.” Three weeks before the crackdown, Amritpal Singh and hundreds of his supporters stormed into the Ajnala police station outside of Amritsar in an effort to obtain the release of a man who had been detained.
On March 18, Amritpal evaded capture by authorities in the Jalandhar district by using several vehicles and assuming different identities. Since then, he has been on the loose, and law enforcement is working day & night to capture him. On April 10, the Punjab Police detained Papalpreet Singh, a close associate and alleged mentor of Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh.
Following an operation by the Punjab Police and its counter-intelligence section, Papalpreet was taken into custody from the Kathunangal area of Amritsar.
Papalpreet will be kept in the Dilburgah prison in Assam under the National Security Act (NSA). The NSA permits up to a year of uncharged imprisonment. Also, six more cases have been registered against him. Papalpreet would be sharing his incarceration with his other eight accomplices- Daljeet Kalsi, Basant Singh alias Pradhan Mantri Bajeke, Harjeet Singh, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, Gurinder Pal Singh and Varinder Singh, all of them are detained under National Security Act (NSA).
Amritpal Singh and his colleagues have been charged with a number of crimes, including inciting disharmony, public disorder, assaulting and attempting to kill police officers, and obstructing the legitimate performance of official duties by public officials.
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) general secretary Gurcharan Singh Garewal informed that as per the directions of the Akal Takht, SGPC would provide all kinds of legal aid to those detained at Dibrugarh jail, including Papalpreet.
A team of lawyers comprising: Bhagwat Singh Sialka, Mandeep Singh Sandhu & Rohit Sharma had already visited Dibrugarh and got the power of attorney & other related documents from the detainees.
However, the Sikh community, including the highest Sikh authority, Shri Akal Takht Sahib, did not welcome the fugitive Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh’s call for ‘Sarbat Khalsa’.
On March 29, 2023, the fugitive Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh who is being chased by the Punjab Police and other law enforcement agencies appeared in a video asking the people of the Sikh Community to unite and call for ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ i.e., an assembly of all factions of the Sikhs (Khalsa).
Amritpal Singh shared the video on YouTube saying, he will not surrender. He also shared a video where he went live on Facebook on March 30. In the new video, he called for Sarbat Khalsa on Baisakhi. The Punjab police is yet to arrest the Khalistani leader Singh, it has been more than 25 days since the crackdown began.
As per the Punjab Police, Amritpal must be hiding somewhere in Punjab only as he is trying to garner support in the name of religion, and the police have searched around 300 deras but have found no progress.
However, police have already detained 360 aides of Amritpal. It would be very interesting to see what will happen on the day of Baisakhi, as it’s one of the major festivals in the Sikh religion
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