Punjab authorities had on Saturday launched a significant crackdown towards Amritpal, with police arresting 78 members of an outfit headed by him
Chandigarh: A manhunt was nonetheless on to nab radical Sikh preacher and Khalistan sympathizer Amritpal Singh, police has mentioned.
“He’s now a fugitive and we’re searching for him and we’ll quickly arrest him,” Jalandhar Police Commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal informed reporters close to Nakodar in Jalandhar late Saturday night time.
Chahal mentioned six to seven gunmen of Amritpal Singh have been arrested.
The Punjab authorities had on Saturday launched a significant crackdown towards Amritpal, with police arresting 78 members of an outfit headed by him, officers mentioned.
The elusive preacher himself, nonetheless, gave the police a slip and escaped their dragnet when his cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district. Because the operation went underway, authorities stepped up safety at a number of locations and suspended web and SMS companies within the state until Sunday midday.
Police on Saturday launched a “huge state-wide cordon and search operations (CASO)” within the state towards the members of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ group, headed by Singh, towards whom a number of felony circumstances have been registered.
Seventy-eight individuals have been arrested thus far, whereas a number of others have been detained for questioning, they mentioned.
The police motion got here a day forward of the beginning of Amritpal Singh’s ‘Khalsa Wahir’ – a non secular procession – which was to start out from Muktsar district.
Throughout their state-wide operation, police seized one .315 bore rifle, seven 12 bore rifles, one revolver, and 373 dwell cartridges of various caliber, they mentioned.
Safety has been tightened at many locations in Punjab with an intensive car checking.
A police spokesperson mentioned that the followers of ‘Waris Punjab De’, or WPD, are concerned in 4 felony circumstances referring to spreading disharmony amongst courses, try and homicide, assault on police personnel, and creating obstructions within the lawful discharge of duties of public servants.
An FIR dated February 24 stands registered towards WPD parts for the assault on Ajnala Police Station.
Final month, Amritpal and his supporters, a few of them brandishing swords and weapons, broke by barricades and barged into the Ajnala Police Station on the outskirts of the Amritsar metropolis, clashing with police for the discharge of one in all Amritpal’s aide.
After the incident, during which six policemen together with a Superintendent of Police rank officer had suffered accidents, the AAP authorities within the state had confronted extreme flak and was accused of kowtowing to extremists.
Dubai-returned Amritpal Singh was final 12 months anointed the top of ‘Waris Punjab De’, which was based by actor and activist Deep Sidhu who died in a street accident in February final 12 months.
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