National Security Act invoked against Amritpal Singh: Punjab Police

The Punjab Police on Tuesday informed that the National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked against Amritpal Singh, who has been on the run since Saturday - the day the police launched a massive crackdown on forces trying to fan the sentiment of Khalistan. 

The NSA allows the preventive detention of anyone who could threaten national security or public order.

"National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked against Amritpal Singh...a non-bailable warrant has been issued against him on 18th March," Punjab IGP Sukhchain Singh Gill said during a press conference. The Arms Act has been invoked against the four people who helped him flee. The police have also recovered the Brezza car in which Amritpal Singh fled.

The senior police official said Amritpal Singh, after fleeing, visited the Gurudwara in Nangal Ambian village in the Jalandhar district and changed his clothes before fleeing again. He said Amritpal Singh changed vehicles, and clothes and escaped on a bike with his aides while being chased by the police last week.   

According to the police, Amritpal Singh was in a Mercedes when he was being chased by the cops in Jalandhar on March 18. Amritpal Singh got down from the Mercedes and fled to Shahkot in a Brezza. Later, he changed his clothes inside a gurudwara and escaped on a motorbike of one of his aides.

The police have so far arrested over 100 people including Amritpal's uncle Harjeet Singh, who along with a few others has been shifted to Central jail in Assam's Dibrugarh.  

The officials believe Harjit Singh helped his nephew gain control over the accounts of 'Waris Punjab De', a radical outfit active in Punjab. Singh is among the five people slapped with the NSA.

Earlier today, the Uttarakhand Police said they were on alert and a strict vigil was being kept by the intelligence department in the Udham Singh Nagar district of the state.

The Punjab IGP on Monday said the police had a strong suspicion of the involvement of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). "We have a very strong suspicion of an ISI angle," he said, adding that they had a very strong suspicion of foreign funding. "Going by the circumstances, it seems that ISI is involved and there is foreign funding as well," he said.