Over a dozen cases are registered in the state against Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, who is currently lodged in Dibrugarh jail (Assam) along with his nine aides under the National Security Act.
The cases were registered by Punjab Police during the period in which Amritpal and his accomplices were at loggerheads with the administration and courted controversies for their acts of violence, including the attack on Ajnala police station on February 24, 2023.
But probes in most of the cases have come to a standstill as the radical Sikh preacher, and his aides continue to be lodged in jail under NSA. Police have been able to file challan only in one case that is attack on Ajnala police station by Amritpal and his supporters.
Amritsar Rural Police has submitted a challan against Amritpal and his 33 supporters who were booked in the case. The case was filed under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed with a common object), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 283 (danger or obstruction in public way) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“The court proceedings could not start against the 10 NSA detainees including Amritpal in the case of the attack on Ajnala Police Station. Moreover, police are yet to arrest seven accused in the case,” a senior Punjab Police functionary said, pleading anonymity.
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The senior Punjab police official added that the cases have not been able to reach court as cops haven’t been able to arrest the accused in these cases. “As Amritpal and his accomplices are detained under NSA that case takes precedence over others till we are able to arrest them in cases filed in the state,” he added.
Amritpal was arrested in Moga’s Rode village on April 23 last year following a more than one-month-long manhunt and the stringent NSA was invoked against him. The Khalistan sympathiser had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district in March last year, switching vehicles and changing appearances.
The Punjab Police had launched the crackdown after the February 23 Ajnala incident last year in which Amritpal Singh and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with police for the release of Lovepreet Singh Toofan, one of his aides.
He and his associates had been booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempts to murder, attacks on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
List of FIRs
February 16, 2023: Amritpal along with his accomplice Lovepreet Singh alias Toofan booked under sections 365 (kidnapping), 379-B (2) (causing hurt while committing snatching), 323 (voluntarily causes hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC act at Ajnala police station
Feb 22, 2023: Amritsar police books Amritpal and others under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion)
Feb 22, 2023: Amritpal booked under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion) of IPC at Baghapurana police station
Feb 24, 2023: Amritpal, and his aides, booked for attacking Ajnala police station.
March 18, 2023: Mehatpur police books Amritpal and his associates under section 279 (rash driving), 188 of the IPC and Arms Act.
March 19, 2023: A case registered at Khilchian Police Station under Sections 279 (rash driving), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharging their duty) of IPC.
March 19, 2023: Case registered against Amritpal and his seven associates for possessing illegal guns.
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March 20, 2023: Mehatpur police books Amritpal, his uncle Harjit Singh and driver Harpreet Singh under sections 449 (trespass to commit an offence punishable with death), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC act and other sections of Arms Act.
March 21, 2023: Amritpal, his four aides were booked under Sections 386 (extortion), 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and other sections of the Arms Act at Shahkot police station
March 23, 2023: Case registered under sections 386 (extortion), 342 (illegal confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and other sections of the Arms Act against Amritpal and Papalpreet at Bilga police station
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