Punjabi dhaba owner picked up for Khalistani poster in Assam

Guwahati, April 1

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A roadside dhaba owner hailing from Punjab was picked up from Assam’s Bongaigaon district on suspicion of being a Khalistani sympathiser, a police officer said on Monday.

Bongaigaon SP Mohan Lal Meena said the person kept a poster of Khalistani idealogue Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and others in his line hotel, located near Gerukabari outpost on the NH-27.

“There is a photo of Bhindranwale. In another photo, a person is waving a flag similar to that of a Khalistani one. We are examining it,” he told PTI.

The person, identified as Gurmukh Singh from Tarn Taran of Punjab, also kept a photo of slain singer Sidhu Moosewala, Meena said.

Cops picked him up on Sunday and were interrogating him, he added.

“He claimed that some truck drivers gave him the pictures. He might be a sympathiser, but we cannot say it at the moment,” the SP said.

Gurmukh used to drive trucks before the Covid-19, but opened the dhaba after the pandemic, he added.

“We feel that he put up such kinds of posters in his dhaba to attract more truck drivers, a lot of whom are from Punjab. Otherwise, he would not have done such a foolish thing publicly in front of his dhaba,” Meena said.