The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the chiefs of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) to be alert in the border areas due to the possibility that Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh Sandhu might cross over the International Border in Punjab or via the India-Nepal border, reported the Indian Express.
An officer said a message has been sent to all units of the BSF and SSB along with two pictures of Amritpal – with and without his turban.
Meanwhile, the internet and SMS ban has been extended till Tuesday in the state as the crackdown intensifies.
“It is reliably learnt that Amritpal Singh, the chief of a pro-Khalistan outfit, has been declared a fugitive by Punjab Police. There is a possibility that he crossed the India-Nepal border or International Border in Punjab. They have been asked to be alert and to sensitise all personnel deployed in the border posts,” an officer said.
The police had planned to arrest Amritpal at Mehatpur on the Jalandhar-Moga Road on Saturday. He, however, evaded them and sources said he left his vehicle and mobile phone near Nakodar.
In a statewide crackdown, the police arrested 78 of his associates Saturday. The hunt for Amritpal continued for the second day with district police chiefs carrying out flag marches in major towns in Punjab and the state government extending internet suspension till Monday noon.
The Punjab Police booked Amritpal and seven of his associates under the Arms Act Sunday after they claimed to have recovered six 12-bore rifles and 196 cartridges. Amritsar (Rural) SSP Satinder Singh said over 100 illegal cartridges were seized from an associate of Amritpal. Later, the seven persons arrested from his team were sent to police custody till March 23.
Officials in intelligence agencies said Amritpal had gone to Dubai in 2012 to work as a truck driver in his family transport business. Around the time, he also came in contact with Jaswant Singh Rode, brother of Pakistan-based proscribed Khalistani operative Lakhbir Singh Rode, and militant Paramjit Singh Pamma. It is suspected that they put him through to the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which offered him money to revive Khalistan sentiments in Punjab.
