Police arrest Amritpal Singh, Khalistani sympathiser in Punjab

Chandigarh: Amritpal Singh, a supporter of the Khalistani movement who had been hiding since March 18, was finally apprehended by Punjab Police on Sunday in the Moga district.

Eight of his aides are already being detained under the National Security Act (NSA), and the Waris Punjab De leader is being relocated to Dibrugarh in Assam.

As per police, Amritpal Singh was arrested from Rode village in Moga district.

Rode is the native village of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Amritpal had tried to pose himself as Bhindranwale 2.0.

taking to Twitter, the Punjab Police said: "Amritpal Singh arrested in Moga, Punjab. Further details will be shared by

Punjab Police... Urge citizens to maintain peace and harmony, Don't share any fake news, always verify and share."

Three days before his arrest, the Waris Punjab De chief's Britain-origin wife Kirandeep Kaur was stopped at the Amritsar airport and not allowed by immigration officials to board a flight to Birmingham, officials said.

After questioning, Kaur has been sent to her home in Jallupur Khera in the Amritsar district and asked her not to leave the country without informing the police.

"We have prevented her from leaving the country. She was neither detained nor arrested. She was stopped because she is needed for questioning related to the case," said Senior Superintendent of Police (Amritsar Rural) Satinder Singh told the media.

Officials said that Kaur has a visa for a limited period in India that is about to expire.

She has been questioned several times earlier also by police for her role in supporting the organisation that was formed by the late actor-activist, Deep Sidhu.

Amritpal Singh, against whom the NSA has been invoked and a non-bailable warrant issued, is on the run despite the massive manhunt launched to nab him since March 18.

The self-styled preacher, who returned from Dubai last year, tied the knot in a simple ceremony in February.

Since then, she has been staying in Punjab.

Papalpreet Singh, the main associate of Amritpal Singh, was arrested in Amritsar on April 10 under the NSA and that six other cases have also been registered against him.

He is a Khalistani activist who called himself a journalist before ending up as a media advisor to the radical preacher.

A resident of Amritsar, he was earlier arrested for his alleged links to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence in 2015.

With inputs from IANS