Punjab Police book Amritpal, his uncle for holding sarpanch hostage - Hindustan Times
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Punjab Police book Amritpal, his uncle for holding sarpanch hostage

Mar 21, 2023 03:50 PM IST

FIR after Udhowal sarpanch Manpreet Singh complained his family and he were held hostage at gunpoint for nearly 30 hours since Saturday night.

Punjab Police on Tuesday booked Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, his uncle Harjit Singh and their driver Harpreet Singh for trespass and wrongful confinement at Mehatpur police station on the complaint of a sarpanch who was held hostage while cops were on their trail on Saturday.

Harjit Singh, the uncle of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, being brought to the Central Jail in Dibrugarh, Assam, on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)
Harjit Singh, the uncle of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, being brought to the Central Jail in Dibrugarh, Assam, on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)

Police said the case was registered on the complaint of Udhowal village sarpanch Manpreet Singh, who alleged that Harjit and Harpreet held him and his family hostage for 29 hours at gunpoint following the crackdown on Amritpal.

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The case was registered under Sections 449 (whoever commits house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code besides other sections of the Arms Act.

Harjit along with driver Harpreet surrendered before the police near Bullandpur gurdwara in Jalandhar’s Mehatpur area. They had taken shelter in the sarpanch’s house after Amritpal gave the police the slip in a busy Mehatpur market on Saturday afternoon. Harjit told police interrogators that he decided to surrender after watching the developments unfold on TV at the sarpanch’s house.

After interrogation on Monday, Harjit was also taken to the high-security Dibrugarh jail in Assam on Tuesday. Altogether seven members linked to Amritpal’s Waris Punjab De are lodged in the jail since March 19. A cavalcade of seven security vehicles took Harjit from the Guwahati airport to the Dibrugarh jail where he was lodged at 7.10am on Tuesday.

Harjit, who officials say helped his nephew gain control over the accounts of Waris Punjab De, is among the five people slapped with the National Security Act (NSA), which allows the preventive detention of anyone who could threaten national security or public order.

The Punjab government on Saturday began a major crackdown on the outfit headed by Amritpal Singh, who is wanted in connection with several criminal cases. The four WPD members jailed in Dibrugarh are Daljit Singh Kalsi, Bhagwant Singh, Gurmeet Singh and ‘Pradhanmantri’ Bajeka. Heavy security has been deployed at the Mohanbari airport in Dibrugarh, fuelling speculation that more WPD members could be brought to BJP-ruled Assam from Punjab, about 2,500 km away.

In a video, Harjit was seen producing his licensed .32-bore gun and cash amounting to 1-1.25 lakh that he was carrying in a Mercedes car. The vehicle was later seized and the two men were taken away by the Amritsar Rural police.

Last July, Amritpal was made the head of the WPD, formed by singer-activist Deep Sandhu who died in February 2022.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Navrajdeep Singh is a senior staff correspondent. He covers agriculture, crime, local bodies, health and education in the Patiala district of Punjab.

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