Fugitive Amritpal Singh posts video while on the run, confirms he’s at large
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New Delhi: Amritpal Singh, the radical Sikh preacher, who has been on the run for nearly two weeks, evading a massive manhunt by the police, released a video on Wednesday mocking the Punjab government and confirming that he remains at large.
The Khalistani sympathiser said if the Punjab government had any intention of arresting him, it could have sent the police to his house and he would have given in. He also slammed the police for arresting many Sikh youth during the crackdown on him and his organisation.
The video has been sourced through a foreign country, said sources, adding it appears to be two days old. UK handles have distributed Amritpal's video, said sources.
The video emerged as sources in the police claimed Amritpal Singh has returned to Punjab and plans to surrender.
The self-styled preacher, calls for a separate homeland for Sikhs and is wanted for an armed raid on a police station last month.
He has been declared a fugitive by the government, and has been on the run ever since a police crackdown on him and his outfit “Waris Punjab De” began on 18 March about three weeks after he and his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested man.
Images and videos that emerged on social media show him changing his vehicles and appearances multiple times to evade the police. Cops have detained and arrested many of his colleagues.
He was said to be travelling to Amritsar through the villages of Hoshiarpur when the Punjab Police was tipped off about his presence in the area, sources said. On Tuesday night, the police launched a massive door-to-door search operation in Hoshiarpur and neighbouring villages to catch him and his associates, who are accused in several criminal cases.
However, Amritpal Singh appeared to have escaped, ditching an Innova car at a gurdwara in the Maraiyan village of Hoshiarpur and fleeing into the fields. The police later recovered the car.
A cordon and search operation were launched in and around the village, while checkposts and barricades were raised on the roads to catch the suspects.
Sources said that Amritpal Singh was planning to give an interview to an international news agency before surrendering, but changed his mind after realising that he had no chance of escaping.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on 21 March rapped the Punjab government, for its intelligence failure over Amritpal Singh’s escape. Singh is wanted in several criminal cases, including one under the National Security Act.
The Punjab Police have been under immense pressure to arrest him and his supporters after they revived memories of the 1980s Punjab insurgency, in which thousands died.
On Tuesday, a new video of Singh with his key aide Papalpreet Singh surfaced on social media, showing the preacher without a turban and wearing a mask. The undated CCTV footage said to be from a market in Delhi, showed the fugitive walking down a street wearing dark glasses. Behind him, Papalpreet Singh could be seen walking with a bag.
The Punjab Police have not commented on the footage yet.
Most of those who joined Singh’s private militia Anandpur Khalsa Fauj (AKF) were drug addicts or former addicts who were in awe of him because of his “demeanour”, which resembled that of Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and also his fancy cars and access to guns reports ThePrint.
