Papalpreet Singh, the mentor of absconding Waris Punjab De (WPD) chief Amritpal Singh who was caught by the police in Amritsar district, was brought to Dibrugarh in Assam, over 2500 km away from the northern state, and lodged in the central jail along with seven others of the pro-Khalistan outfit on Tuesday.
He was brought to Dibrugarh from Delhi by a Punjab police team and escorted to the jail from the airport amidst tight security.
Papalpreet Singh, considered to be a close associate of Amritpal and strategist of the outfit with close links to Pakistan's ISI, has been booked under the National Security Act (NSA).
Meanwhile, a team of three lawyers of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) -- Bhagwant Singh Siyalka, Mandeep Singh Siddhu and Rohit Sharma from Punjab -- met the Waris De Punjab members in jail and took their 'vakalatnama', officials said.
A 'vakalatnama' is a document by which an advocate is empowered to appear or plead before any court, tribunal, or other authority.
The Dibrugarh District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) had appointed Samir Todi as the counsel for the detainees.
Todi told PTI on Tuesday that he met all the detainees personally and checked whether the facilities were provided to them as every prisoner, whether booked under the stringent NSA or any other act, have the right to avail.
All the detainees were satisfied with the facilities provided to them and said they are being treated well, he said.
''The SGPC lawyers approached me on Monday as they have been appointed as the legal aid counsel of the detainees. These lawyers went to Dibrugarh central jail on Monday to meet the detainees,'' he said.
Besides taking their 'vakalatnama', the SGPC lawyers also asked bout the grounds of their detention, Todi said.
The SGPC lawyers will now discuss the matter with their legal team in Punjab and contest the detention of the WPD members in Punjab High Court, he said.
Sialka said that the SGPC lawyers team had received support from the DLSA, Dibrugarh Bar Association and local lawyers in submitting the application to the jail authorities to meet the detainees.
The detainees, he said, do not have enough clothes but are receiving all other facilities due to them and are satisfied.
The first batch of four arrested members of the Khalistani outfit were shifted to Dibrugarhby the Punjab police on March 19.
On March 21 three others, including Amritpal's uncle Harjit Singh who was also detained under NSA, were brought to Dibrugarh and kept in the jail.
Besides Papalpreet and Harjit Singh, the other members of the outfit lodged in the jail are Daljeet Kalsi, Basant Singh, Gurmeet Singh Bhukanwala, Bhagwant Singh alias 'Pradhan Mantri' Bajeka, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal and Gurinder Pal Singh.
The Punjab police had recently launched a massive crackdown in the northern state and arrested several supporters of Amritpal Singh, the chief of the pro-Khalistan outfit.
The crackdown on Waris Punajb De began weeks after Amritpal nd his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested associate. The episode had raised fears of the return of Khalistani militancy to the state that borders Pakistan.
WPD was formed by actor-activist Deep Sidhu and Amritpal took over as its chief a month after his death in 2022.
Inspector General (Headquarters) of Punjab Police Sukhchain Singh Gill told reporters in Chandigarh on Monday that six cases were registered against Papalpreet Singh. He is also alleged to have been in contact with Pakistan's ISI.
The police had been conducting searches at many places, including Hoshiarpur, to nab Amritpal and Papalpreet Singh who had been hoodwinking security since March 18 when the police had launched a crackdown against WPD. It is believed that both Papalpreet and Amritpal could have separated in Hoshiarpur following the police chase of their vehicle.
