NEW DELHI, Mar 22: The Punjab Police has issued a lookout circular against the fugitive Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh who has so far escaped arrest despite the massive manhunt entered the fifth day on Wednesday. An alert has also been sounded at airports and the police has invoked the NSA Act against him, besides issuing non-bailable warrants.
The police said the absconding Khalistani leader demanded food and clothes from people at a gurdwara near Jalandhar at gunpoint after escaping on March 18. Amritpal Singh, the self-styled chief of Waris Punjab De, has been declared a fugitive after he gave cops the slip on Saturday (March 18) following an intense car chase through Jalandhar district.
The Khalistani leader visited a gurdwara in Jalandhar with his aides and stayed there for around an hour. He removed his Sikh robes and put on a shirt, pants and tied a pink turban which belonged to the gurdwara granthi’s son.
Police sources said Amritpal used a Jalandhar-based granthi’s (Sikh preacher) phone to call a person in Haryana’s Rewari. He also called other supporters and asked them to bring two motorcycles.
The granthi’s son was getting married and the family was expecting their guests when Amritpal Singh entered the gurdwara. They mistook Amritpal and his aides as their guests and allowed them to enter. The family members were also reportedly threatened by Amritpal and his men at gunpoint.
The mobile phone used by Amritpal to call his aides was discarded before he fled on a bike. Police are scanning the Sikh preacher’s phone that was used by the fugitive Amritpal Singh to call his aides before he fled on a motorcycle.
The preacher told police that Amritpal and his aides had parked a Brezza car at a distance of 100 metres from the gurdwara, from where the police has also recovered a rifle and some swords. Meanwhile, the police registered a fresh FIR against Amritpal and his four accomplices at Shahkot police station.
The police so far have arrested 154 supporters of Amritpal who are being questioned. The police, while releasing some old photographs of Amritpal on Tuesday, had also expressed the apprehension that Amritpal may disguise himself to confuse the police. The police yesterday released Amritpal’s photographs with or without turban and beard.
Police suspect that Amritpal may be hiding somewhere in Punjab itself. The interrogation of two men who provided logistical support to Amritpal at Ambia Nangal, besides the call details, may lead to his arrest.
(Manas Dasgupta)
