Chandigarh (IANS) | Khalistani hardliner Amritpal Singh on Wednesday released a new video message in which he urged the Jathedar of Akal Takht to call Sarbad Khalsa (congregation of Sikhs) to save Punjab on Baisakhi (April 13). He said that he has not been arrested yet. Attacking Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Punjab Police, Amritpal Singh strongly criticized the arrest of Sikh youths.
In the video, Amritpal Singh said that he managed to escape from the police on March 18 and is safe. He also expressed his desire to surrender.
The police is expecting him to surrender at the Akal Takht or Takht Damdama Sahib in Amritsar. Security has been increased at both the places.
Earlier on Tuesday night, in a village near Hoshiarpur town, Amritpal Singh and his henchman Papalpreet Singh once again dodged the Punjab Police.
An official told IANS that an Innova vehicle was intercepted by the police at a naka but they managed to escape in the dark. There were three people including Amritpal Singh in it.
Police was following the car from Phagwara. The car was later found abandoned near Gurudwara Bhai Chanchal Singh on Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road, with the occupants fleeing on foot.
Police have cordoned off villages in Hoshiarpur district and are conducting house-to-house searches.
A video of Amritpal Singh and Papalpreet Singh surfaced on Tuesday, in which they are roaming in a Delhi street without turbans and masks.
A day earlier, the advocate general of the state had told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the police was close to arresting Amritpal Singh.
The High Court was hearing a petition seeking his release by a person who claimed that Amritpal Singh was under illegal detention in Jalandhar.
The Advocate General clarified that Amritpal Singh has not been arrested and the police is making all efforts to arrest him.
He said, Punjab is going through a sensitive phase and it involves national security. Thus, the arguments given should be confined to the arguments raised in the habeas corpus petition.
After hearing the counsel for both the parties, Justice N.S. Shekhawat asked the counsel for the petitioner to show proof that Amritpal Singh was in illegal custody of the police.
He said that the state has a clear stand that Amritpal Singh has not been arrested.
Amritpal Singh has been evading arrest since March 18, changing his location repeatedly.
–IANS
