The Punjab police arrested Amritpal Singh in Moga’s Rode village early Sunday, ending an over a month-long manhunt against the radical preacher who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The preacher was taken into custody at 6.45 am as he came out of the gurdwara, dressed in the traditional attire that included a sheathed sword, in Rode, Bhindranwale’s native village and the place where he himself took over last year as the chief of Waris Punjab De.

The 29-year-old was detained under the stringent National Security Act and flown to Assam on a special flight to be lodged at the Dibrugarh Central Jail, where nine other associates picked up over the past several weeks are kept. Shortly after his arrest, a video surfaced online in which Singh said, “I have decided to surrender and this arrest is not an end, it is the beginning,” he said. In the “court of the Almighty”, he said he is not guilty.

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He claimed there were excesses by the government against Sikhs while he was on the run, appearing to suggest that the security agencies wanted to harass people rather than just arrest him. He said he would have cooperated with them had arrest been their objective. Former Akal Takht jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode said he met Amritpal Singh at the gurdwara as the preacher prepared to surrender. Another clip showed him sitting before a portrait of Bhindranwale, who died in a controversial Army operation in 1984 to flush out militants holed up inside Amritsar’s Golden Temple. Inspector General of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill countered the preacher’s claim and said the fugitive was cornered.

“A joint operation was conducted by Amritsar police and the intelligence wing of Punjab police. He was located in village Rode based on operational inputs with Punjab police. He was surrounded from all sides. The village was surrounded by the Punjab police,” he said. He said police did not enter the gurdwara. A message was conveyed to him that he had no chance of making his escape, Gill said.

18 March
Day the police launched crackdown against Singh

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