Hours after four suspected close aides of Punjab’s pro-Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh were brought to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that it is a “police-to-police cooperation”.
“When one time there were arrests in Assam, we had flown some accused to Bihar’s Bhagalpur jail due to security reasons. Punjab police might have thought its better for the suspects to be in Assam. This is a police-to-police co-operation,” Sarma told news agency ANI.
AMRITPAL SINGH HUNT LIVE UPDATES
The four suspects were first taken to Assam’s Jorhat city and then to Dibrugarh in a special aircraft. According to officials, SP Tejbir Singh Hundal led the Punjab police team who took them to the northeastern state.
A massive manhunt was launched on Saturday in Punjab to arrest the self-styled radical Sikh preacher and Khalistan sympathiser – Amritpal Singh – after they received intel about his movement. According to the Punjab police, while there was no lapse in the chase, Singh somehow managed to escape by dodging the cops. On Saturday night, the police declared the pro-Khalistan leader as a ‘fugitive’.
So far, over 75 people have been arrested – including Singh’s six to seven gunmen. Around 13 rifles, one revolver, and 373 live cartridges have also been seized during the state-wide operation. Meanwhile, the car in which the ‘fugitive’ is believed to have escaped, was found abandoned in Salema.
(With inputs from ANI)
