CHANDIGARH: With the massive manhunt for Amritpal Singh entering the 12th day on Wednesday, rumours abound that the Khalistan leader and Waris Punjab Da chief is likely to surrender in Punjab.
Some reports suggest that Amritpal Singh is likely to surrender before the Akal Takht but no confirmation was forthcoming.
The Khalistan radical leader has been on the run since March 18 even as massive crackdown by Punjab police was launched against him. After his convoy was intercepted in Jalandhar on March 18, he managed to give police a slip and since then, he has been absconding.
Amritpal Singh is reported to have returned to Punjab on Tuesday but police failed to catch him as he managed to dodge a police checkpost in Hoshiarpur district of the state. A team of police reportedly chased an Innova car on suspicion that Amritpal Singh and his associates including Papalpreet Singh were inside it. However, the suspects were feared to have fled and left the car in Marnaian village of Hoshiarpur.
According to reports, the fugitive leader has come back to Punjab to surrender and that he is likely to surrender in Amritsar’s Golden Temple.
The Khalistani separatist leader was earlier suspected to be in Nepal. India also urged the authorities in Nepal to remain alert and not let the radical preacher flee to a third country following which he was put on surveillance list.
The Waris Punjab Da chief has been absconding since March 18 even as the Punjab Police launched a massive search operation to nab him. However, he managed to give police a slip and flee on a motorbike when they intercepted his convoy in Jalandhar. Since then, he is suspected to have fled to several states, including Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, evading multiple checkpoints, changing vehicles and hideouts several times.
Last week, Punjab and Haryana High Court pulled up the Punjab government as Amritpal Singh managed to evade arrest despite a ‘well-planned operation’. The court lambasted it as an ‘intelligence failure’. The HC asked how Amritpal could escape despite 80,000 cops, a well-planned operation and huge force to support the operation.
It has become like a Bollywood potboiler and the people across the nation continue to track the story.
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