Amritsar: Kirandeep Kaur, wife of fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, was stopped by immigration officials at the Amritsar airport when she tried to board a flight to London. Sources gave this information on Thursday. He said it was learned that he was questioned by immigration officials. Singh had married Kaur, who lives in the UK, in February this year.
More than a month after the police crackdown against Singh and his associates, the hardline preacher is still on the run while a manhunt is on to nab him. On March 18, the police had initiated action against Singh and members of his organization ‘Waris Punjab De’. He and his associates were booked under several criminal cases relating to promoting enmity between classes, attempt to murder, assault on police personnel and obstructing public servants in lawful discharge of duty.
Meanwhile, the hunt for the fundamentalist preacher entered the third day on April 17 as the state police tightened security to nab him at the earliest. According to the police, Amritpal’s uncle Harjit Singh and driver Harpreet Singh surrendered late on Sunday night near a gurudwara in Mehtpur area of Jalandhar.
Jalandhar’s SSP (rural) Swarnadeep Singh said, “The search for Amritpal is still on.” The Punjab government has extended the ban on mobile internet and SMS services till Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Amritpal’s Mercedes is seized by the police. Earlier, two vehicles of the preacher’s convoy were seized. The police on Saturday launched a major crackdown against Amritpal and members of his organization ‘Waris Punjab De’.
However, the elusive preacher outwitted the police and escaped the police trap when his convoy was intercepted in Jalandhar district. Police conducted flag marches and searches across Punjab on Sunday, arresting 34 more supporters and detaining four people and sending them to a jail in distant Assam. During the ongoing campaign against elements of ‘Waris Punjab De’ led by Amritpal and those trying to disturb peace and harmony in the state, the state police have so far arrested 112 people.
The action came weeks after Amritpal and his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar, assuring that an arrested person would be released. With the state on high alert, senior Punjab Police officials have claimed that the law and order situation is under control and appealed to the public not to pay heed to rumours.
The police also said on April 16 that it had registered an FIR against Amritpal and his supporters in connection with the breaking of a police post and the recovery of a firearm in a vehicle found in a village in Jalandhar. The Amritsar rural police had registered another FIR on Saturday night under the Arms Act following the arrest of seven associates of the preacher in that district.
The action follows an FIR registered a day after the attack on Ajnala police station on February 23. The radical preacher and his supporters were accused of creating disharmony, attempt to murder, assaulting police personnel and obstructing public servants in the discharge of their duties. Six policemen including a superintendent of police were injured in Ajnala. Amritpal, who returned from Dubai, became the head of ‘Waris Punjab De’, founded by actor and activist Deep Sidhu, who died in a road accident in February last year.