An undated photograph of radical preacher Amritpal Singh who reportedly evades arrest after police launch a large crackdown towards him and his aides in Amritsar. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
A manhunt was still on to nab radical Sikh preacher and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh, police stated.
“He is now a fugitive and we are looking for him and we will soon arrest him,” Jalandhar Police Commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal advised reporters close to Nakodar in Jalandhar late Saturday evening.
Mr. Chahal stated six to seven gunmen of Amritpal Singh have been arrested.
The Punjab Government had on Saturday launched a main crackdown towards Amritpal, with police arresting 78 members of an outfit headed by him, officers stated.
The elusive preacher himself, nonetheless, gave the police a slip and escaped their dragnet when his cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district. As the operation went underway, authorities stepped up safety at a number of locations and suspended web and SMS companies in the State until Sunday midday.
Police on Saturday launched a “massive State-wide cordon and search operations (CASO)” in the State towards the members of the ‘ Waris Punjab De‘ group, headed by Singh, towards whom a number of legal circumstances have been registered.
Seventy-eight individuals have been arrested to this point, whereas a number of others have been detained for questioning, they stated.
Police searched our residence for 3-4 hours, didn’t discover something unlawful: Singh’s father
Father of the pro-Khalistan leader stated the Punjab Police carried out searches at his residence in Amritsar however didn’t discover “anything illegal”.
Tarsem Singh, Amritpal’s father, stated the police ought to have arrested him earlier than he left the home.
Paramilitary personnel stand guard at Mehatpur village after the arrest of associates of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, in Jalandhar on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
ANI
“We don’t have any information about his whereabouts. They carried out a search at our residence for 3-4 hours but did not find anything illegal. Police should have arrested him before he left home,” stated Tarsem Singh in an unique interview with ANI on Saturday.
The police motion got here a day forward of the begin of Amritpal Singh’s ‘ Khalsa Wahir‘ — a non secular procession — which was to begin from Muktsar district.
During their State-wide operation, police seized one .315 bore rifle, seven 12 bore rifles, one revolver, and 373 reside cartridges of various caliber, they stated.
Security has been tightened at many locations in Punjab with an intensive car checking.
A police spokesperson stated that the followers of ‘ Waris Punjab De‘, or WPD, are concerned in 4 legal circumstances relating to spreading disharmony amongst courses, try to homicide, assault on police personnel, and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duties of public servants.
An FIR dated February 24 stands registered towards WPD components for the assault on Ajnala Police Station.
Last month, Amritpal and his supporters, a few of them brandishing swords and weapons, broke via barricades and barged into the Ajnala Police Station on the outskirts of the Amritsar metropolis, clashing with police for the launch of certainly one of Amritpal’s aide.
After the incident, through which six policemen together with a Superintendent of Police rank officer had suffered accidents, the AAP authorities in the State had confronted extreme flak and was accused of kowtowing to extremists.
Dubai-returned Amritpal Singh was final yr anointed the head of ‘ Waris Punjab De‘, which was based by actor and activist Deep Sidhu who died in a street accident in February final yr.
