Pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh, who was arrested on April 23 after a month-long hunt, has refused to reveal the sources of his funding and has the potential to be dangerous to peace and security, sources in Punjab Police told News18.
Amritpal Singh has been lodged in a high-security prison in Assam’s Dibrugarh since his arrest by the Punjab Police.
Police sources told News18 that, during questioning, the Khalistani sympathiser and head of the Waris Punjab De outfit, indicated that will “not cross the line of criminality if let off”. Amritpal Singh also purportedly told the police he could help fight the drug problem and in Punjab.
Police sources further said it needs to be ensured that he isn’t free to build support again. “If he starts a peaceful movement and gathers support, it could be dangerous. We need to stop that from happening,” an official told News18.
“He will come back and start doing things that he was doing. He has indicated that he will not cross the line of criminality. He wants to do this fight for long… lambi race ka ghoda… This is dangerous… He said he will fight against drugs and conversion by Christian missionaries and will ensure no criminality,” the official added.
The rise of the radical preacher, with pro-Khalistan sympathies and his successful evasion of arrest ever since he and a posse of armed supporters stormed a police station in March, brought back fears of the militancy which had stalked Punjab in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The Punjab Police had arrested 29-year-old Amritpal Singh from a gurdwara in Rode under the stringent National Security Act. The symbolism of Rode is significant as this was the native village of Bhindranwale, who died in a controversial Army operation in 1984 to flush out militants holed up inside Amritsar’s Golden Temple.
India’s security establishment has long suspected that Pakistan’s external spy agency ISI, with the help of overseas Sikh separatists, has been the brain behind pushing Amritpal Singh back to India with an aim to revive terrorism in Punjab,
Threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Punjab Chief Minister Bagwant Singh Mann, the radical Sikh preacher had been openly making statements about declaring secession from India and forming Khalistan. He spoke about the assassinations of then prime minister Indira Gandhi and chief minister Beant Singh.
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