Amritpal Singh Arrested: A month-long manhunt got here to an finish in the present day as Punjab Police arrested pro-Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh from Moga’s Rode village. He has been lodged in a high-security Dibrugarh jail. He was flown by a particular flight from Punjab’s Bhatinda air drive station to Dibrugarh the place he was in a high-security jail the place northeast rebels was saved earlier.
The rise of the unconventional preacher with suspected pro-Khalistan sympathiser and his profitable evasion of arrest ever since he and a posse of arms-brandishing supporters stormed a police station final month, was seen as a problem by the nation’s safety equipment, and introduced again fears of the militancy which had stalked Punjab in the Eighties and early Nineties.
Amritpal Singh was taken into custody in the morning at 6.45 AM
The preacher was taken into custody in the early hours of the morning at 6.45 am as he got here out — in conventional apparel that included a sheathed sword — of the gurdwara in Rode, Bhindranwale’s native village and in addition the place which he took over final yr because the chief of Waris Punjab De.
The Punjab police which had fully surrounded the Gurudwara the place Singh was hiding, detained the 29-year-old radical beneath the stringent National Security Act.
How Khalistani sympathiser was arrested?
“A joint operation was conducted by Amritsar police and the intelligence wing of Punjab Police. He was located in village Rode based on operational inputs with Punjab Police. He was surrounded from all sides. The village was surrounded by the Punjab Police,” mentioned Inspector General of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill.
Formalities had been completed earlier than lodging him
The particular flight which introduced him to Assam’s Dibrugarh, almost 2,000 km from Bhatinda Air Force station, landed at Dibrugarh at 2.20 pm and a double cordon of armed police personnel whisked him away for a medical check-up and different formalities earlier than finally lodging him in the Central Jail, the place 9 different associates of his, picked up over the previous a number of weeks, have additionally been saved.
Singh delivered a quick deal with
Shortly after his arrest, a video surfaced on-line in which the extremist preacher was seen delivering a quick deal with, indicating that he’s surrendering. Another clip confirmed him sitting earlier than a portrait of Bhindranwale, who died in a controversial Army operation in 1984 to flush out militants holed up inside Amritsar’s Golden Temple.
Gill countered the preacher’s declare that it was a “surrender”, and underlined that the fugitive was cornered on the premise of intelligence inputs. A message was conveyed to the preacher that he had no probability of escaping, Gill mentioned.
“NSA warrants were issued against Amritpal Singh and these have been executed today morning. Further, the law will take its own course,” he mentioned.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s response
In a video message hours after the arrest, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann mentioned those that disturb peace and concord in the state must face the legislation, and harmless individuals is not going to be disturbed. Mann mentioned he repeatedly monitored developments through the evening, resulting in the arrest.
Former Akal Takht Jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode mentioned he met Amritpal Singh on the gurdwara because the preacher ready to give up.
In the gurdwara clip, the unconventional preacher recalled that Rode is Bhindranwale’s birthplace and the village the place his personal “dastar bandi” (turban-tying ceremony) befell – a reference to his taking up as Waris Punjab De chief. He claimed there have been excesses by the federal government towards Sikhs whereas he was on the run, showing to counsel that the safety businesses wished to harass individuals quite than simply arrest him. He mentioned he would have cooperated with them had arrest been their goal.
“This arrest is not an end”
“I have decided to surrender and this arrest is not an end, it is the beginning,” he claimed. In the “court of the Almighty”, he mentioned he’s not responsible.
Hours after Amritpal was arrested, his relations mentioned they felt relieved on seeing him after greater than a month. “We came to know through the media at 7:15 am that he has been arrested,” Amritpal’s uncle Sukhchain Singh mentioned in Amritsar. “Today, the family is feeling kind of free of worry. We have seen him (Amritpal),” mentioned Singh.
Flag marches in Moga had been carried out
Meanwhile, the Punjab police took out flag marches in Moga, Bhatinda and different locations following the arrest of Amritpal as a precautionary measure. Police had launched a crackdown towards Amritpal Singh on March 18, about three weeks after he and his supporters, lots of them brandishing weapons, stormed into the Ajnala police station close to Amritsar to safe the discharge of an arrested colleague.
There had been considerations that the preacher had hyperlinks with Pakistan spy company ISI and was working in direction of radicalising the Sikh youth, in an effort to revive the decision for a separate nation of ‘Khalistan’.
Amritpal Singh took over Waris Punjab De final yr
Amritpal Singh returned from Dubai final yr and took over Waris Punjab De after the dying of activist-singer Deep Sandhu.
Among the declared goals of the outfit was combating drug habit amongst younger individuals, however intelligence businesses feared that this was only a entrance. Several instances have been lodged towards him and his associates for allegedly spreading disharmony, trying to homicide, attacking police personnel and obstructing the lawful discharge of responsibility by public servants.
While the preacher remained on the run for 36 days, authorities continued to pile stress on him by arresting his key associates.
Singh’s spouse was stopped from boarding a flight
His spouse Kirandeep Kaur, a UK-based lady he married in February, was stopped from boarding a flight to London from Amritsar airport lately. Scores of sympathisers had been detained by police, however most of them had been launched because the Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee claimed younger individuals had been being harassed.
Security beefed up at Dibrugarh jail
Security in Assam which has been the shock alternative, of the nation’s safety planners, for lodging the Waris Punjab de gang has been beefed up after information got here in that Amritpal Singh was being flown into Dibrugarh. “The Dibrugarh Central jail compound has been surrounded by Assam Police’s elite Black Cat Commandos, CRPF and other security personnel,” a senior official informed PTI.
“He (Singh) has been kept in a special cell under very tight security. A team from Punjab Police is present in the jail along with personnel of Assam Police,” he added. The Assam Police has not but made any official assertion on the event.
Dibrugarh jail is claimed to be essentially the most well-fortified
Dibrugarh Central Jail was constructed in 1859-60 by the British on 15.54 acres of land. It is likely one of the oldest and most well-fortified prisons, officers mentioned. Security in and across the jail premises has been upgraded progressively since March 19, when 4 members of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ (WPD) had been introduced right here in the primary batch. However, in the present day’s safety deployments are seen as unprecedented.
(with inputs from PTI)
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