Three more individuals, including a lawyer, were arrested by the Punjab Police on Friday for aiding the escape of Amritpal Singh, the chief of Waris Punjab De, who was a fugitive at the time. Advocate Rajdeep Singh from Babak village, Sarabjit Sabi, a Nihang from Basti Danishmanda, and Onkar Nath, a self-styled preacher from Tut Kalan village, were taken into custody. Singh had reportedly shared content related to Amritpal on his Facebook account, which led to the police taking action. Singh and Sabi were apprehended in Himachal Pradesh, while Onkar Nath was arrested in his village.
The three individuals were produced before a duty magistrate on Friday night and taken into police remand for one day. They are currently being questioned about their involvement with Amritpal and his whereabouts. The police have also recovered some objectionable material from the accused, and are investigating its relevance to the case.
On April 10, the police arrested two brothers, Hardeep Singh, and Kuldip Singh, from Rajpur Bhaian village in Hoshiarpur for providing shelter and food to Amritpal when he was being chased by the police on March 28. Amritpal and his associate Papalpreet Singh, who was recently arrested, had fled the state following a police crackdown against them and their followers on March 18. The police had chased an SUV for 37 km from Phagwara to Marnaian village in Hoshiarpur, which the duo had abandoned at a gurdwara before fleeing on foot.
The Kapurthala Bar Association has taken note of the detention of advocate Rajdeep Singh and is expected to decide during a meeting on Saturday. The Bar Association had observed a ‘no work day’ on Friday to push for a five-day work week. The police will be presenting the accused before the court on Saturday to seek further remand.