New Delhi: Mobile internet services will remain suspended in Punjab till 21 March (12.00 hours) as its police continue to widen the net for fugitive radical preacher and chief of “Waris De Punjab” Amritpal Singh.
Short messaging services (SMS) – except banking and mobile recharge – will not work either, the state’s department of home affairs and justice said Monday. Neither will dongle services provided on mobile networks, except the voice call. The state said this was in the interest of public safety.
The Khalistan activist continues to elude the police, two days after he managed to escape from Shahkot in Jalandhar where cops accosted him Saturday afternoon.
Amritpal was on his way from his village Jallu Khera in Amritsar to Bhadaur in Barnala to attend a religious function when his cavalcade was stopped at a Shahkot naka.
His cavalcade — comprising a Mercedes in which he was travelling along with three persons, and two Endeavours – immediately took a U-turn and rolled into a village link road. The chase continued for a good 15 to 16 km after which the two Endeavours were stopped in a busy market at Mehatpur and its occupants arrested.
During the chase Amritpal got off the Mercedes and into a black Isuzu. His uncle Harjit Singh,who was driving the Mercedes, split from Amritpal during the chase. Harjit, along with Amripal’s driver Harpeet, surrendered at Mehatpur police station late on Sunday night. The Mercedes was seized.
With multiple teams involved in the search operation, the police on Sunday recovered the black Isuzu vehicle, in which Amritpal is said to have last been seen travelling. It was abandoned in Saleman village near Mehatpur.
The police sprang into action Saturday to catch Singh, three weeks after his supporters clashed with officers at the Ajnala police station on the outskirts of Amritsar, demanding the release of his close aide Lovepreet Toofan.
Thousands had stormed the Ajnala station on 23 February, flashing swords and sophisticated fire-arms, threatening the police with consequences if they did not release Toofan – arrested for assaulting and abducting a man. Toofan was subsequently let go.
There are four criminal cases registered against Amritpal Singh, with charges including attempted murder and kidnapping.
The police are also investigating suspected links between him and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
A total of 112 arrests have been made so far, with 34 picked up only on Sunday — one being Daljeet Singh Kalsi, Amripal’s adviser and financier.
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