Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh, who has been on the run since a crackdown was launched to nab him, managed to give police the slip again after he was spotted in Rajasthan near the Pakistan border.
Sources in the Rajasthan Police told CNN-News18 that Singh was seen in Hanumangarh district which shares borders with Muktsar and Fazilka in Punjab. “A team of Punjab Police was also present. We cordoned the house where he was staying but he managed to escape. While Rajasthan Police earlier said he wasn’t at the location, an SHO said he wasn’t sure of who Singh was but he had seen a 6-feet-tall, fair outsider, dressed in the robes of a ‘nihang’ at the house,” the source said.
They added that while they could not apprehend Singh in the raid, the Khalistani sympathiser’s mother received a call around 9-9.30pm from Avtar Singh Khanda, the brain behind Singh’s rise. “On the call he said something had gone wrong. He added that he was unsure of Singh’s safety since he was on the run once again after a police raid. Upon hearing this, his mother started crying.”
The source said on further probe, it was revealed that Singh was staying at the home of a man identified as Hardeep who was his former gunman and also part of his close coterie. Also, his house was very close to Bathinda’s Talwandi Sabo. “Hardeep, who was also on the run, was apprehended at 3am and has refused to divulge why he escaped. The house where Singh was staying was such that any movement could be spotted from it. This must have helped them escape. Hence, raids will continue in Hanumangarh and Ganganagar.”
Explaining Singh’s modus operandi, the sources said he would try to enter through a relatively unknown chink in the security as he knew that he would be apprehended by the police spread across the state.
Punjab Police will not get a Baisakhi holiday this year as leaves of all officers have been cancelled till April 14 in the wake of the radical Sikh preacher’s escape.
Singh is on the run since a police crackdown against him and members of his pro-Khalistan ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit on March 18, about three weeks after he and his supporters stormed into the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested aide.
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