Punjab Police expanded their search for Amritpal Singh on Friday to 'deras' and other possible hideouts of the fugitive preacher in Hoshiarpur district, where some suspects had abandoned their car following a chase three days ago.
Despite being sighted in several CCTV footage and photos with changed appearances at many places, including Patiala, Kurukshetra and Delhi, the radical preacher continued to hoodwink the police.
Cops deployed in and around Marnaian village were also checking vehicles in the search of the radical preacher.
The incident took place on Monday around 8:30 pm in Chhana village of the district, a BSF spokesperson said.
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
The declaration also names Pak-based terror groups like LeT and JeM.
Donning a flowing white chola' and a navy blue turban and often escorted by armed supporters, radical preacher and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh has been quite active in Punjab for some time.
A new picture of Amritpal Singh with his key aide Papalpreet Singh surfaced Monday on social media as another close associate of the radical preacher was detained under the stringent NSA.
Due to a 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' convened by farmers at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Thursday, the Delhi Police has beefed up security and deployed heavy force for checking vehicles, which might lead to traffic snarls in the central parts of the city, officials said.
Rode, the place chosen for the dastarbandi (turban-tying) event on September 29, 2022, happens to be the ancestral village of slain terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Thousands of Amritpal's supporters had entered the Ajnala police station in Amritsar on February 23 this year to free a member, who had been arrested in an abduction case.
Khalistan terror group received backing of Paksitan's ISI, reveals its chief in chilling confessions to the Punjab police after his arrest.
Pannun, the self-proclaimed general counsel of "unlawful association" SFJ, released the video messages on social media platforms on November 4.
Amritpal and Papalpreet had been on the run since March 18 when the Punjab Police launched a crackdown against the Khalistan sympathiser and his aides.
A drone that was shot down by the Border Security Force along the India-Pakistan international border in Punjab last year had taken flight and had 'footprints' in China and Pakistan, a BSF spokesperson said on Wednesday quoting a forensic analysis report.
The Punjab Police has been on high alert after the pro-Khalistan radical preacher escaped its dragnet.
The petition was filed by advocate Iman Singh Khara, seeking the "release" of Amritpal Singh from alleged police custody. Khara is the legal advisor of Amritpal Singh and his outfit 'Waris Punjab De.'
On Saturday late evening, Jalandhar commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal confirmed that the radical leader had been declared a "fugitive".
Farmers will march towards Delhi on Tuesday after a meeting with two Union ministers over their demands, including legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) for crops, remained inconclusive.
The movie star took a break from a film shoot in Amritsar to visit a BSF campus.
Amritpal managed to evade arrest for more than a month, which was proving to be a major embarrassment for the Punjab police that had launched a crackdown against the radical preacher and his aides on March 18.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer organisations that spearheaded the 2021 protest, adopted the resolution to "intensify the fight against the policies of the Union government to save farming, food security, land and livelihoods of the people".
Haryana Police have arrested a woman who allegedly harboured Amritpal Singh and his associate Papalpreet Singh at her home in Kurukshetra district, an indication that the pro-Khalistan preacher might have fled Punjab.
The quadcopter was "recovered" from a field near the border fence and a search is on to check if it dropped any consignment in the area.
The state authorities had on Saturday suspended the internet and SMS services till Sunday noon.
Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab police at around 6:45 am from village Rode after absconding for more than one month.
Notably, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu had urged Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the state to announce the chief ministerial face for the polls, following which Gandhi had said that the decision in this regard would be taken by the party workers.
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.
This is the third straight day that the border-guarding force has shot down a drone in Punjab.
The ongoing crackdown on Khalistan supporters has brought to light a questionable delay in revoking arms licences granted to the armed guards of radical preacher Amritpal Singh in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
Amritpal Singh and others are on the run and a massive manhunt has been launched to nab them, a police spokesperson said.
Pro-Khalistan slogans were raised by supporters of radical Sikh outfits as well as that of Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar at the Golden Temple on the 38th anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
They committed criminal trespass, injured officials, disrespected the Indian flag and damaged public property.
The unmanned aerial vehicle flew back to Pakistan after the Border Security Force troops fired at it Saturday night, they said.
Security forces took out flag marches at several places including Ferozepur, Bathinda, Rupnagar, Faridkot, Batala, Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Moga and Jalandhar in a show of strength.
Amid a police crackdown on Amritpal Singh and his outfit, the pro-Khalistan preacher appeared in a video on Wednesday, calling for a 'Sarbat Khalsa' congregation on Baisakhi to discuss issues related to the Sikh community and saying he is in high spirits.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The officials said weapons were illegally being stockpiled in several de-addiction centres run by the 'Waris Panjab De' and a gurdwara in Amritsar.
Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar's Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party's Gurmail Singh, by a margin of 5,822 votes.
Global hospitality major IHG Hotels and Resorts saw its business surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2023 on the back of "unprecedented growth" in the tourism industry, a senior company official said. The UK-headquartered company, which operates Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza and luxury brands like Intercontinental and Six Senses in India, launched its premium lifestyle brand voco in January this year, with the first property set up at Jim Corbett in North India. The group, in total, signed 15 new deals in 2023.
