Punjab Police grills fugitive Amritpal Singh’s wife, parents amid crackdown on WPD

The Punjab Police, wringing their hands after the radical preacher Amritpal Singh fled, descended on his family at his native village Jallupur Khera and quizzed his wife Kirandeep, a UK-based NRI, and his parents.

Kirandeep reportedly married Amritpal in February this year, months after he took over as the head of Waris Punjab De, the outfit founded by actor-activist Deep Sidhu. She was allegedly involved in generating foreign funds for WPD.

Amritpal’s aged parents were questioned for nearly an hour, ostensibly to reconstruct the money trail and to inquire about their son’s whereabouts.

Amritpal illegally sourced weapons from Pakistan

Meanwhile, selective leaks to media suggest the range of "illegal activities" that Amritpal Singh was engaged in included sourcing weapons from Pakistan through its spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence to attempts at dividing Punjab on communal lines. The weapons were allegedly stashed in illegally run de-addiction centres and a gurdwara, these unsubstantiated leaks said.

The Punjab police have also registered yet another case against Amritpal stemming from the complaint of one Ranjit Singh, the "granthi" of the gurdwara where the former hid for about an hour after escaping from the police dragnet in Jalandhar district.

Amritpal given clothes, ate langar at Gurudwara

According to the police, Amritpal had pointed a gun at Ranjit Singh’s son and demanded clothes (so as to change his attire). The complainant said that he was not in the Gurudwara at that point of time but was contacted by his son. The fugitive was given two pairs of trousers and shirts and also served "langar" (meals from the community kitchen). He waited there for some people to pick him up, the granthi has claimed.

This is the eighth case against Amritpal; the police have already invoked National Security Act and also issued a look out circular and NBW.

The police have also impounded the motorcycle used for fleeing, from near a canal. Four persons who helped Amritpal flee have also been detained. Singh had also made some phone calls, details of which were being looked into. A .315 bore rifle and a walkie-talkie were recovered from the car that was impounded.