Amritpal Singh traveled by bus from Ambala: Sources
25 Mar 2023 13:30:00
New Delhi, Mar 25: Teams of the Delhi Police and Punjab Police reportedly conducted search operations in the national capital and its borders after receiving intelligence inputs of sighting of fugitive pro-Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh and his mentor Papalpreet Singh at Delhi's Inter State Bus Terminal or ISBT recently.
A senior Delhi police official, who asked not to be named, told the media that the Punjab Police had information that Amritpal, in the guise of a sadhu (monk), had boarded a bus late on March 20 and deboarded near Peepli on the Rajasthan-Haryana border in Jhunjhnu district the next morning.
“To track the traveling trail, the driver and other staff of the bus were questioned on Friday at the ISBT. It was a routine affair, nothing special,” the officer said. News agency ANI reported that the Punjab Police expressed doubts about Amritpal entering the Delhi border using any vehicle other than a bus. Following the input, the Delhi Police went on alert mode and is trying to track Amritpal's movements. An alert has also been issued in the Dehradun, Haridwar, and Udhamsinghnagar districts of the Uttarakhand as a precaution in view of the possibility of Amritpal entering the state. Uttarakhand director general of police Ashok Kumar has said. "An alert has been issued in Dehradun, Haridwar, and Udhamsinghnagar districts of the state as a precaution in view of the possibility of pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh entering the state," the DGP told ANI. He said that the police are conducting intensive checking on the borders of all three districts and in other areas. Significantly, all three districts of the state have been affected by terrorism in the 90s, he added.
Amritpal Singh, who took over as 'Waris Punjab De' chief after its founder actor-activist Deep Sindhu's death last year, is on the run after police launched a massive crackdown on March 18 in Punjab and arrested several of his supporters. It began weeks after the preacher and his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar on February 23 to secure the release of an arrested associate. The episode raised fears over the possibility of the return of Khalistani militancy to Punjab which borders Pakistan.