Amritpal, Papalpreet dodge cops, yet again

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 29

As special teams of the Punjab Police kept on searching for pro-Khalistani activist Amritpal Singh in the national capital region, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and along the Nepal border for the past two days, “Waris Punjab De” chief and his aide Papalpreet Singh somehow managed to re-enter Punjab on March 27 and were quietly putting up in a dera near here.

It has been learnt that Amritpal and Papalpreet reached a dera linked to a “Kar Sewa” jatha of Hazoor Sahib where the fugitive reportedly donned the Nihang robe once again and used their vehicles and drivers to reach Hoshiarpur last evening.

Amritpal reportedly decided to give an interview to a channel, but the counter-intelligence wing of the Punjab Police from Chandigarh began chasing an MUV bearing registration number PB-10-CK-0527 suspecting him to be inside.

The moment the SUV crossed the Rawalpindi police station in Phagwara and headed towards Hoshiarpur, the occupants stopped the vehicle near Gurdwara Bhai Chanchal Singh at Marnaian village.

As Amritpal and Papalpreet escaped, two other occupants (youth from the dera) were detained and taken to the Phagwara police station.

Later, the police found the registration number of the MUV fake and impounded the vehicle. The white MUV had a sticker with “Sant Baba Narinder Singh, Sant Baba Balwinder Singh, Gurdwara Langar Sahib, Sri Hazoor Sahib, Nanded, Kar Sewa” written on it.

As the police kept on searching door-to-door in the village, Amritpal and Papalpreet reportedly escaped to Amritsar in another vehicle.

The police said Amritpal planned to give an interview before his surrender in Amritsar. Even his paternal uncle Harjit Singh had also given an interview to the media before his arrest in Shahkot. As his interview plan got thwarted, Amritpal released his video byte this evening, which was reportedly first screened on a Facebook page of a channel.

Yesterday, Amritsar (Rural) SSP had released a “Hue and Cry” notice with Amritpal’s picture and other details.

Took along two sewadars

• Sources said Amritpal came from Uttarakhand to Phagwara dera on March 27 in an SUV of Baba Nidhan Singh, affiliated to Hazoor Sahib
• The vehicle has been registered in the name of Jathedar Mohan Singh and had some shawls, clothes, medicines and jutebags
• As they went to Hoshiarpur in an MUV of dera on March 29, they took along two young sewadars to serve as decoys
• While Amritpal and Papalpreet sneaked out of the MUV, the police teams kept on chasing the two sewadars