Week on, Punjab police yet to nab radical leader

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab police, which launched its operation to arrest Khalistan sympathiser and Waris Punjab De outfit chief Amritpal Singh on March 18, is on the backfoot due to its failure to nab the radical self-styled preacher even after a week.

The botched operation in Jalandhar district meant that Amritpal, according to the police's own words, managed to leave Punjab and reach Shahabad-Markanda in Haryana's Kurukshetra district on Monday.

The hunt to nab Dubai-returned fugitive has now turned from 'statewide' to 'nationwide'. Amritpal and his absconding associate Papalpreet Singh's last location was traced from CCTV footage to Shahabad bus stand on Monday afternoon.

To escape from Shahkot in Jalandhar to Shahabad, a distance of nearly 200 km, Amritpal changed many vehicles - Mercedes, Isuzu D-Max, Maruti Brezza, Bajaj Platina motorcycle, a motorcycle driven cart, and auto-rickshaw and a Scooty.

To make matters more complicated, Amritpal's passport is yet to be traced as a team of cops failed to recover it from his residence at Jallupur Khera village in Amritsar district.

Detailed revelations by Khanna police, based on data retrieved from the phone of Amritpal's bodyguard Tejinder Singh Gill alias Gorkha Baba, who was arrested on Thursday, have also raised issues about police intelligence in the case, especially regarding Amritpal's anti-national activities.

Khanna police, on basis of videos retrieved from Tejinder's mobile, said on Friday that Amritpal was trying to raise an armed force, 'Anandpur Khalsa Fauj' and for that, his group members were being imparted weapon training at a makeshift firing range near a canal in his native village of Jallupur Khera in Baba Bakala tehsil.

The investigation also found that Amritpal had made up a detailed plan for a separate nation 'Khalistan' and most of these activities were going on apparently in Jallupur Khera gurdwara.

This raises questions about the local police and whether they were unaware of these plans and firing practice being carried out in the open. This also raises serious questions about intelligence gathering system of the state police about a known highly-suspicious Khalistan sympathiser who took over WPD after a 'dastar bandi' (bestowing of responsibility) function on September 29 in Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's village Rode in Moga district.

On November 14 last year, the Punjab government banned public display of weapons and decided to review all existing arms licences within three months, but the police seized illegal weapons and ammunition from WPD members only after the March 18 operation. The central agencies had long ago warned the Punjab police about the suspicious movement and activities of Amritpal and had also shared inputs with the cops. Even the Punjab and Haryana high court had earlier this week raised serious questions about the handling of the entire 'well-planned' operation by the Punjab police, in which a number of DIGs and SSPs were directly involved on the ground along with their force. Haryana home minister Anil Vij claimed on Friday that after Haryana police shared information about Amritpal, Punjab police took one-and-a-half day to reach Shahabad.

Calls and queries raised by the TOI with DGP Gaurav Yadav and IG (headquarters) Sukhchain Singh Gill remained unanswered till the filing of the report. ADGP (law and order) Arpit Shukla said, "I am not directly involved in this operation and cannot comment. IG (headquarters) is the right person to brief you."