7 aides of Amritpal on way to Punjab

Seven out of 10 aides of radical Sikh preacher and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh were airlifted to Punjab on Thursday.

The seven accomplices of Waris Punjab De chief were released from Dibrugarh Central Jail following the withdrawal of the National Security Act (NSA) and were re-arrested by Punjab Police.

According to the officials, all of them completed two years in this jail and their detention period expired on March 19. The process of shifting started after the Punjab government decided not to invoke the NSA against them.

A 25-member team of the Punjab Police led by SP Harinder Singh Gill reached Assam on Monday and sought transit remand from a local court.

The seven detainees, identified as Daljit Singh Kalsi, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala, Harjit Singh, Bhagwant Singh, Basant Singh and Gurinderpal Singh, were shifted to Punjab in two flights on Thursday.

Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala, Bhagwant Singh and Basant Singh, along with Punjab police officials, left Dibrugarh on an IndiGo flight (6E 2561), which departed from Dibrugarh’s Mohanbari Airport on Thursday morning.

Daljit Singh Kalsi, Harjit Singh, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, and Gurinderpal Singh were taken on an IndiGo flight (6E 6604) which departed in the afternoon.

As per the sources, Amritpal Singh and his two associates, Papalpreet Singh and Varinder Singh Johal, will also be shifted to Punjab in May or June this year.

The radical preacher contested and won the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as an Independent candidate from the Khadoor Sahib seat.

His seven aides are being taken back after the Punjab government decided not to reinvoke the NSA at the end of their detention period, DGP Gaurav Yadav said on Sunday.

They would be formally arrested in the 2023 Ajnala police station attack incident and face the law, he had added.

Amritpal and his associates were booked on charges of spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.