Chandigarh: Accompanied by hundreds of supporters, radical activist Amritpal Singh Sandhu stormed the Ajnala police station in Amritsar Thursday, forcing the Punjab Police to agree to release his associate arrested in a case registered against Amritpal and 25 others.
The police have now decided to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the FIR to verify Amritpal’s claims that the case against him and his supporters was registered on false grounds.
Amritpal leads a faction of the radical outfit ‘Waris Punjab De‘ formed by late Punjabi actor-turned-lawyer Deep Sidhu. In his public engagements in the past, Amritpal has been openly demanding Khalistan, a separate Sikh state.
Armed with swords, lathis and sticks, Amritpal’s supporters clashed with the police in Ajnala Thursday afternoon before finally entering the police station from where he addressed his supporters, asking them to “stay put peacefully” till their demands are met.
“We have to remain gathered here and get the FIR revoked and ensure the release of our associate. And till that doesn’t happen, we will stay here. Once we are victorious we will all move to Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) to thank the Guru,” Amritpal told his supporters.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Amritsar (rural), Satinder Singh told ThePrint that the matter has now been resolved. “We will release the one person arrested in the case tomorrow morning. Secondly, we have constituted an SIT to probe the FIR against Amritpal and his men,” he said, adding that Amritpal and his supporters have agreed to this.
Addressing a press conference Wednesday, Amritpal had warned the Punjab government that he and his supporters would court arrest at the Ajnala police station if the FIR against them was not revoked within the next 24 hours. Following Amritpal’s call to action, additional force was deployed in the area with more than 400 policemen stationed around the Ajnala police station which was surrounded by police barricades on all sides.
Carrying the Guru Granth Sahib in a special vehicle, Amritpal’s supporters reached the Ajnala police station Thursday morning, resembling a religious jatha (congregation). They breached the police cordon to surround the police station. Flanked by supporters carrying automatic weapons, Amritpal was seen pushing the special vehicle carrying the Guru Granth Sahib as the crowd surged ahead.
Once they surrounded the police station, Amritpal exhorted his supporters to sit peacefully and maintain discipline in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib.
However, videos of the incident show Amritpal’s supporters assaulting police personnel, some of whom are said to have been injured. There were also reports that his supporters damaged police vehicles parked at the spot. Asked about the police inaction, SSP Singh said, “The police did not react because the supporters had come in the presence of the sacred Guru Granth Sahib and it would not have been advisable to indulge in any action.”
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Case against Amritpal & associates
Amritpal, along with five of his associates and 20 unidentified persons, was booked by the police on 15 February on a complaint by a resident of Chamkaur Sahib. The complainant, one Birender Singh, had alleged that Amritpal and his men abducted him from the Damdami Taksal in Ajnala before beating him up and threatening to harm his family.
He also told the police that this might have been the result of a ‘Facebook Live’ on 7 February during which he criticised Amritpal and his supporters.
Following the registration of an FIR in this regard, the police had arrested Amritpal’s close associate Lovepreet Singh Toofan from his residence in Tarn Taran on 17 February.
Addressing his supporters in Ajnala, Amritpal said the FIR against him and his associates had been registered without any collection of evidence and on the statement of a person who was mentally upset and undergoing treatment at PGIMER, Chandigarh. The police, he claimed, registered an FIR against him to see how he and his supporters would react.
Amritpal alleged that the police had tortured Toofan and demanded that he be produced before them. “I appeal to Bhagwant Mann that he should not become Beant Singh. But he has and in this sangat (congregation) several Dilawar Singhs have been born,” he said.
The radical activist was referring to former Punjab CM Beant Singh who is credited with dealing a decisive blow to terrorism in Punjab before his assassination by suicide bomber Dilawar Singh in August 1995.
“I am neither scared of dying or going to jail. If I go to jail it will be for a good reason, not on a false FIR,” Amritpal told his supporters in Ajnala.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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