India / Action against amritpal singh after g 20 event before musewala death anniversary police raid

Chandigarh. The Punjab Police stepped up action against Khalistani supporter Amritpal Singh a day after the G-20 meeting was over in Amritsar and just a day before the death anniversary of late Punjabi singer Sidhu Musewala in Mansa. Many of his locations were raided on Saturday. Several police teams are following Singh after he fled from a house in Jallupur Kheda village of Mehatpur. Six of his armed associates have been caught by the police. Several charges are being leveled against Amritpal for making inflammatory statements on the Khalistan issue and for the February attack on the Ajnala police station by him and hundreds of his associates, in which five policemen, including a superintendent of police, were injured.

Moga police has sealed the border with Jalandhar district and police teams have also been deployed in villages along the Sutlej river in Moga district. Internet services have also been suspended in some parts of the district. Earlier this week, News18 met Amritpal Singh at his residence in Jullapur Kheda near Amritsar and reported on the possibility of his arrest after the three-day G20 event in Amritsar ends on March 15-17. The authorities feared trouble in Amritsar after his arrest and wanted the G-20 event to end without any problems. The Punjab Police on Saturday launched an operation to arrest Singh and his associates.

This was said by giving an interview to News 18

In his last interview before his arrest, Singh told News18 at his residence earlier this week that he was not afraid of being arrested or even killed. “I think the present government will think what they will do (against me). I am not afraid of getting arrested or killed, but on what charges are they going to arrest me?" News18 found at least five aides of Singh with rifles and pistols protecting him, and some of them are said to have been arrested by the Punjab Police on Saturday.

In the interview, Singh also claimed that Punjab has not moved on from the Khalistan issue. “I think when there is carnage, no one steps forward. When you talk about sovereignty, there is nothing to go beyond. Our people are still suffering - youth, elders and children all talk of Khalistan. This is a reality,” he also said that the media was playing on a loop “just eight seconds of the violence at Ajnala” and denied disrespecting the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib, which he had taken to the station.