Chandigarh: The Punjab government has decided to reinvoke the National Security Act (NSA) on Khadoor Sahib MP and radical preacher Amritpal Singh, currently lodged at Dibrugarh jail in Assam, ThePrint has learnt.
The 32-year-old head of radical outfit ‘Waris Punjab De’ has been in preventive detention under the NSA for the past two years since his arrest 23 April 2023 in Punjab. His second detention ends 22 April.
Highly-placed sources in the Punjab Police confirmed to ThePrint that a fresh detention order was issued against Amritpal and dispatched to Dibrugarh jail through a police team. To begin with, the fresh detention order would be valid for a period of three months after which it can be extended by the NSA advisory board. It is learnt that the detention order was issued by the Amritsar district magistrate and cleared by the state home secretary.
Amritpal’s eight accomplices, including paternal uncle Harjeet Singh who were also arrested under the NSA, have been brought back to Punjab from Dibrugarh in batches in the past one month following the expiry of their detentions. They have now been formally arrested by the Punjab Police in the various cases they are facing in the state.
On 20 March, Harjeet Singh and other six associates Basant Singh, Bhagwant Singh alias Pradhan Mantri Bajeke, Gurmeet Singh Gill alias Gurmeet Bukkanwala, Sarabjeet Singh Kalsi alias Daljeet Singh Kalsi, Gurinderpal Singh Aujla alias Guri Aujla and Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal alias Kulwant Singh were brought on transit remand and re-arrested in the Ajnala police station attack case. Another accomplice Papalpreet was taken back 11 April, and arrested in the same case.
These shifting of the accomplices led to a speculation that Amritpal would also be brought back to Punjab. Amritpal’s father Bapu Tarsem Singh had told media early this week that according to law, Amritpal cannot be kept in NSA detention beyond two years. He along with his supporters are waiting to welcome Amritpal, Tarsem Singh had said.
The sources in the Punjab Police said that fresh grounds for detaining Amritpal include among others, the recovery of damning evidence in the murder of Sikh activist Gurpreet Hari Nau in October.
A close associate of Amritpal, Hari Nau helped him take over the reigns of Waris Punjab De in August 2022 following the death of its chief Deep Sidhu in February that year. But their relations turned sour, and a few days after Hari Nau posted a series of Facebook messages criticising Amritpal, he was shot dead on 8 October, 2023 while returning home from the village gurdwara on his motorcycle. Three suspected assailants were arrested later.
At a press conference, Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav said that Hari Nau had been murdered on Amritpal’s behest and that he was made an accused in the case. In January, the Punjab Police invoked sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or (UAPA), against Amritpal in Hari Nau’s murder.
Apart from this case, Amritpal and his armed group of supporters were involved in several controversies, including the alleged kidnapping of his former supporter Varinder Singh, vandalisation of gurdwaras, and openly crusading for the creation of a separate Sikh state.
On 23 February 2023, Amritpal along with his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to get an associate released from police custody. That act led to a police crackdown on the radical preacher and his men on 18 March. But Amritpal and his close aide Papalpreet Singh managed to evade police dragnet before they were finally arrested after a month-long manhunt in April.
From one year initially, Amritpal’s NSA detention was extended for an additional year in March 2024 on the grounds that even while in detention, he allegedly indulged in activities “prejudicial to the security of India and the maintenance of public order”.
In his last detention order issued by the then Amritsar Deputy Commissioner, a mention was made of Amritpal allegedly using a mobile phone to be in touch with anti-national agencies and using the media to provoke anti-national sentiment among the people in Punjab.
A case was registered against Amritpal along with Dibrugarh Central Jail superintendent Nripen Das in March last year. Das was arrested for allegedly providing the incriminating electronic gadgets, including a smartphone, to Amritpal and his men.
Amritpal has challenged his second detention in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The next state of hearing in the case is 22 April. However, since the detention expires on the same day, the matter is expected to be rendered infructuous.
In June 2024, Amritpal won from the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency as an Independent candidate with a record margin of over 2 lakh votes despite being behind bars. Last month, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had rejected the jailed MP’s plea seeking permission to attend the proceedings of Parliament.
Between these two episodes, Amritpal’s father Bapu Tarsem Singh and Faridkot MP Sarabjit Singh Khalsa launched the Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) at the Maghi conference in Muktsar in January.
Last week, the party organised a religious gathering at Talwandi Sabo on the occasion of Baisakhi during which Sarabjit Singh announced that their party would be contesting elections in 2027 and that Amritpal would be their “CM face”.
(Edited by Tony Rai)