Special aircraft carrying radical preacher Amritpal Singh has landed at Assam's Dibrugarh airport. He will be taken to Dibrugarh jail where eight of his associates, including main aide Papalpreet Singh, are already being held under the National Security Act, which allows detention up to a year without any charge.
Amritpal Singh was arrested this morning after he surrendered before the police after addressing a gathering in a gurdwara in Punjab's Moga, sources told NDTV. He was on the run since March 18 after the Punjab police launched a crackdown following the storming of the Ajnala police station by his supporters to secure the release of an arrested associate.
Recently, his wife was stopped at the Amritsar airport by immigration officials while she was trying to board a flight to London. Amritpal Singh married UK-based Kirandeep Kaur in February this year.
Here are the Live Updates on Amritpal Singh's arrest:
Hours after radical preacher and Khalistani supporter Amritpal Singh was arrested by Punjab police, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said he was in touch with senior officials throughout Saturday night about the operation.
Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh surrendered in Punjab's Moga this morning a month after the police launched a massive crackdown against him and the members of his "Waris Punjab De" outfit. He has been arrested by the police.
Amritpal Singh, who the government describes as a Khalistani-Pakistan agent, has been taken to Dibrugarh, in Assam, where eight of his aides are already being held under the National Security Act (NSA).
Police said Amritpal Singh was inside a gurdwara, and that they had maintained the dignity of the gurdwara while arresting him.
Amritpal Singh was arrested by Punjab Police at 6:45 am from village Rode in Moga district. Warrants under NSA were issued against Amritpal Singh, these were executed this morning.We had special inputs that Amritpal Singh was present in Rode village, he was surrounded and had no chance to escape," said IG Punjab Police Sukhchain Singh Gill.
After eluding Punjab Police for 37 days, separatist and radical preacher Amritpal Singh finally surrendered at a gurudwara in Punjab's Moga. He is being shifted to the central jail in Assam's Dibrugarh.
Amritpal Singh, whom the government labels a Khalistani-Pakistan agent, has been active in Punjab for several years and is frequently accompanied by armed supporters.
- Sources in the government told NDTV that Amritpal Singh was working to "vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of Punjab". "This can be gauged from his indulgence in abduction and assault of another Sikh Varinder Singh, openly defying the authorities during Ajnala incident and not hesitating to injure policemen while doing so, indulging in sacrilege/Beadbi while resorting to vandalism in Gurdwaras in Kapurthala and Jalandhar," sources said.
- He also used youth for violence and promoting gun culture by naming his private militia as Anandpur Khalsa Fauj (AKF), threat to national integrity by openly declaring that they do not believe in state and defying order of Punjab Government not to display weapons in open, beating youth so-called drug de-addiction centers who did not toe the line of Waris Punjab De.
- Sources says his supporters would have repeated such incidents if the government did not invoke NSA.
Fugitive preacher Amritpal Singh surrendered in Punjab's Moga this morning after over a month-long chase by the police.
Amritpal Singh surrended in a gurudwara at Rode village of Moga. Sources told NDTV that he addressed a gathering before he surrendered before the police.
Amritpal Singh was on the run since March 18 after the Punjab police launched a crackdown following the storming of the Ajnala police station by his supporters to secure the release of an arrested associate.