JALANDHAR/JALLUPUR KHERA: Fugitive Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh took Punjab Police on a wild goose chase through the state’s countryside for the fifth day, leaving behind fragmented traces of his escape route and snatches of CCTV footage, including one of him and an associate taking a ride on a “jugaad rehri’ – or improvised goods cart – with a suspected getaway bike in the middle.
The police on Wednesday arrested Gurbhej Singh, one among the four who had set off from a gurdwara in Jalandhar’s Nangal Ambian with Amritpal on two motorbikes, and traced a 45km stretch of the route they took before the trail again went cold. One of the two bikes, a Bajaj Platina, was found near Darapur village.
Amritpal had apparently fled with Papalpreet Singh, the aide seen with him in the CCTV grab, on the Bajaj Platina bike. Three others — Gurbhej, Bikram Singh and Shutrana — rode a Royal Enfield. The Enfield was discarded for a Hero Splendor somewhere along the route, investigators said.
Amritpal and his associates crossed Parjian, Mehatpur and Nurmahal during the 45km portion of their journey that was caught by CCTVs along that route. Investigators said while Amritpal and Papalpreet split from the other three after the latter boarded a bus at Nurmahal.
Late Tuesday, a fresh case was registered against Amritpal and the four associates he escaped with for criminal intimidation, extortion and threat with weapons, based on a statement by Nangal Ambian gurdwara’s granthi Ranjit Singh. According to the FIR, around 1.15pm on March 18, a Maruti Brezza arrived outside gurdwara and Amritpal and his four associates entered Ranjit’s residence on the gurdwara premises.
“My son was working there and one of them said that they needed his clothes as the police were chasing them and they needed to escape by changing their attire. I refused to give them clothes, at which Amritpal held his pistol near my ear and threatened to kill my entire family,” the FIR quotes the granthi as saying. “I opened the almirah after that and they took my son’s clothes. As they were leaving, they once again threatened me against giving any information to police.”
The police registered an FIR against four others who helped Amritpal and his associates escape on two motorcycles. They were produced in a court at Shahkot and remanded in police custody for five days. The police recovered the Brezza from a shed adjoining the house of one of the arrested men, who was in a wheelchair.
The police on Wednesday arrested Gurbhej Singh, one among the four who had set off from a gurdwara in Jalandhar’s Nangal Ambian with Amritpal on two motorbikes, and traced a 45km stretch of the route they took before the trail again went cold. One of the two bikes, a Bajaj Platina, was found near Darapur village.
Amritpal had apparently fled with Papalpreet Singh, the aide seen with him in the CCTV grab, on the Bajaj Platina bike. Three others — Gurbhej, Bikram Singh and Shutrana — rode a Royal Enfield. The Enfield was discarded for a Hero Splendor somewhere along the route, investigators said.
Amritpal and his associates crossed Parjian, Mehatpur and Nurmahal during the 45km portion of their journey that was caught by CCTVs along that route. Investigators said while Amritpal and Papalpreet split from the other three after the latter boarded a bus at Nurmahal.
Late Tuesday, a fresh case was registered against Amritpal and the four associates he escaped with for criminal intimidation, extortion and threat with weapons, based on a statement by Nangal Ambian gurdwara’s granthi Ranjit Singh. According to the FIR, around 1.15pm on March 18, a Maruti Brezza arrived outside gurdwara and Amritpal and his four associates entered Ranjit’s residence on the gurdwara premises.
“My son was working there and one of them said that they needed his clothes as the police were chasing them and they needed to escape by changing their attire. I refused to give them clothes, at which Amritpal held his pistol near my ear and threatened to kill my entire family,” the FIR quotes the granthi as saying. “I opened the almirah after that and they took my son’s clothes. As they were leaving, they once again threatened me against giving any information to police.”
The police registered an FIR against four others who helped Amritpal and his associates escape on two motorcycles. They were produced in a court at Shahkot and remanded in police custody for five days. The police recovered the Brezza from a shed adjoining the house of one of the arrested men, who was in a wheelchair.
