HOSHIARPUR (Punjab), Mar 29:
The Punjab Police has launched a massive search operation in a Hoshiarpur village and many adjoining areas following inputs that radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his aides could be hiding there.
There was heavy police deployment in and around the Marnaian village here where extensive search launched late on Tuesday night after some suspects abandoned their vehicle following a chase.
“The search is going on, but we haven’t traced anyone yet,” said a police official from Hoshiarpur.
He said CCTV footage in the area was also being scanned.
A team of the counterintelligence wing of the Punjab Police on Tuesday evening had chased a car from Phagwara after it suspected that fugitive Amritpal and his aides could be in that vehicle, police sources said.
Suspects, who are believed to be three to four in number, abandoned their vehicle near Gurdwara Bhai Chanchal Singh in Marnaian village here and fled, police sources said.
A cordon and search operation was launched on Tuesday night in and around the village while checkposts and barricades were raised on the roads to nab the suspects.
Police late on Tuesday night had also conducted a door-to-door search operation to nab the suspects. The Punjab Police has been on high alert after the pro-Khalistan radical preacher escaped its dragnet.
Amritpal Singh remains untraceable since a police crackdown against him and members of his pro-Khalistan ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit on March 18, about three weeks after he and his supporters stormed into the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested man.
The preacher escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, switching vehicles and changing appearances.
He and his associates have been booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
A new video purportedly showing Amritpal Singh with his key aide Papalpreet Singh surfaced on social media on Tuesday, showing the pro-Khalistan preacher without a turban and wearing a mask.
The undated CCTV footage, said to be from a market in Delhi, purportedly showed the fugitive walking down a street wearing dark glasses. Behind him, Papalpreet Singh could be seen walking with a bag.
There is no official word from Punjab Police on the fresh footage.
A senior Delhi Police official said they are probing whether the persons seen in the video are Amritpal Singh and his aide. (PTI)
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