On Friday, March 24, Anil Vij, the Haryana Home Minister, claimed that the Punjab government was not serious about arresting fugitive pro-Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh. He alleged that the Punjab Police was informed of Amritpal’s whereabouts by the Haryana Police, but it took them one and a half days to get to Shahabad in Haryana from Punjab.
During a media interaction on March 24 in Ambala, Minister Vij said, “I don’t think the Punjab government is serious about arresting Amritpal Singh. They have been lax in this matter. He was here in Shahbad eating at a relative’s residence while they were hunting in Jalandhar with all of their personnel. If he is a most-wanted person why you deployed all the police force to Jalandhar, while he was having rotis with his relatives in Shahabad.”
“He had already fled Shahbad by the time we learned of his whereabouts. However, the Punjab Police were notified, but it took them 1.5 days to get to Shahabad. I don’t know about their political drama but all this makes the Punjab government’s lax response to this issue very evident,” Vij asserted.
Haryana Home minister Anil Vij said that Punjab Govt is not serious to arrest #AmritpalSingh . He alleged we told the Punjab police about the shahbad location of Amritpal but police took one & half day to reach shahbad. pic.twitter.com/DwbSEmG8tO
— Akashdeep Thind (@thind_akashdeep) March 25, 2023
Vij’s statement comes after reports emerged that Amritpal crossed over to Haryana after escaping Punjab, where he took shelter in a lady’s house in Shahbad on the intervening night of March 19-20. On Thursday, the police officers in pursuit of Amritpal Singh, claimed to have recovered CCTV footage that showed the last location of the fugitive leader in Haryana’s Shahbad area. The CCTV footage shows a man walking with an umbrella, who is suspected to be Amritpal Singh. The footage is from Sidhartha Colony in Shahbad Markanda, Kurukshetra.
According to reports, Amritpal reportedly left for Delhi on Friday. Since receiving the information, the Delhi Police have been on high alert and are working to track down Amritpal. An alert has also been issued in the nearby state of Uttarakhand and its districts of Dehradun, Haridwar, and Udham Singh Nagar.
The Punjab Inspector General of Police, Headquarters, stated on Thursday that a total of 207 people had been arrested for disrupting the state’s peace and harmony during the crackdown on Amritpal Singh. “Police teams are thoroughly screening every person who has been arrested, and they will soon be released from police custody,” he said.
