Detention Ends, Amritpal Singh's 7 Aides May Be Probed Over Police Station Attack

The Punjab Police will bring back seven associates of jailed MP and radical preacher Amritpal Singh from Assam's Dibrugarh jail as the state government has decided not to extend their detention under the stringent National Security Act, said a senior police officer on Sunday.

The seven associates will face the law in the 2023 Ajnala police station attack incident, the officer said.

The detention period of these seven persons is going to expire and the state government has decided not to extend their detention under the NSA, he said.

Amritpal Singh, the chief of the 'Waris Punjab De' outfit, and his nine associates have been in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the NSA for the past two years.

He had fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as an independent and won from the Khadoor Sahib seat.

Amritpal Singh's associates who will be brought back to Punjab are Basant Singh, Bhagwant Singh Bajekhana, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwal, Daljit Singh Kalsi, Gurinderpal Singh Guri Aujla, Harjit Singh and Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Border Range Amritsar) Satinder Singh said police will take the investigation forward in the 2023 Ajnala police station attack incident.

He said that 10 persons, who had been detained under the NSA, have not been formally arrested yet in the Ajnala police station attack incident.

"We are taking the investigation in the matter forward. We will arrest the seven persons in the FIR number 39 and bring them back to Punjab," the DIG told reporters in Amritsar.

"We will bring them here in that case and take forward the investigation," he further said.

Replying to a question on Amritpal Singh, the DIG refused to make any comment.

Action against them will be taken as per law, he said, adding the NSA detention period against these persons is expiring.

Last year, the detention of Amritpal Singh and his nine associates under the NSA had been extended by a year.

Amritpal Singh, who styled himself after Khalistani operative Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Moga's Rode village on April 23, 2023 following an over a month-long manhunt.

The Khalistan sympathizer had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, 2023 switching vehicles and changing appearances.

The Punjab Police had launched the crackdown after the February 23, 2023 Ajnala incident in which Amritpal Singh and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, allegedly broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with police for the release of his aides.

He and his associates were booked on charges of spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)