‘Waris Punjab De’ founder Amritpal Singh‘s affiliate Lovepreet Toofan raises slogans alongside with supporters after his launch from the Amritsar Central Jail, in Amritsar, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Accused in a kidnapping and assault case, Lovepreet Singh alias Toofan Singh — a shut aide of self-styled Sikh preacher and Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh — was released from jail in Punjab’s Ajnala on Friday.
A neighborhood courtroom issued the discharge order after the police offered an utility for Mr. Lovepreet Singh’s discharge. On Thursday, armed with swords, weapons and sharp weapons, scores of supporters of Mr. Amritpal Singh, who heads the unconventional Waris Punjab De outfit, scuffled with police personnel, injuring a few. They barged into Ajnala police station, demanding the cancellation of the FIR and launch of Lovepreet.
The Senior Superintendent of Police for Amritsar rural, Satinder Singh, instructed reporters that Mr. Lovepreet Singh’s supporters had supplied proof that he was not current on the spot the place the alleged kidnapping and assault occurred, and therefore the police had submitted the identical proof earlier than the courtroom, for his discharge.
Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav stated that, in an act of “cowardice”, the protesters had used a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib as a protect cowl once they attacked police personnel. The police had labored with utmost restraint to keep up the holy Guru Granth Sahib’s dignity, he added. “Six police personnel were injured in the incident. After analysing the video footage, action will be taken against those who attacked police,” he instructed journalists.
‘Law and order collapse’
Opposition events hit out on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), accusing it of failing to keep up legislation and order within the State. “If a group of people armed with all sorts of weapons, including guns and swords, lay siege to a police station that resulted in bloody clashes, leaving many of them injured, it must be termed as a collapse of law and order machinery in Punjab,” Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa, chief of the Opposition within the Punjab Assembly, stated.
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Sikh Badal stated that a conspiracy appeared to be at work to render the peaceable democratic voice of Punjabis irrelevant by actively sponsoring and selling disruptive and lawless components. “Otherwise, how do you explain yesterday’s complete administrative paralysis and why there was no attempt by the government to ensure that its writ runs in the State? We have no government worth the name in Punjab,” he stated.
‘Political motive’
Earlier, Mr. Amritpal Singh alleged that the FIR was solely registered with a political motive, claiming that his supporters had gathered to point out their energy in assist of their calls for. He went on to warn the native administration, saying that “…if the demands were not met, then the administration would be responsible for whatever happens.”
Mr. Amritpal Singh was amongst a number of individuals who have been lately booked by the Punjab police on allegations of kidnapping, theft and voluntarily inflicting damage to a resident of Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar district. In this connection, the police had arrested Lovepreet Singh alias Toofan Singh final week. His relations accused the police of falsely implicating him within the case.
