A clip shows him getting out of the car and fleeing with three accomplices on two bikes
New Delhi:
Amritpal Singh, the Khalistani leader who dramatically dodged thousands of policemen for four days across Punjab, has been caught on security footage during different stages of his escape.
In footage exclusively accessed by NDTV, Amritpal Singh is seen getting out of a car and slamming it onto a bike.
The 30-year-old radical preacher is also seen in a clip from a toll booth in Jalandhar at around 11.27 am on Saturday, the day the Punjab Police launched their operation to arrest him. He is on the front seat of a Maruti Brezza car.
Earlier, Amritpal Singh was seen in a Mercedes SUV, which he had dumped on the side of a road in Shahkot. Sources say that hours later, he switched to a colleague’s Brezza. He apparently changed his clothes in the car, as the footage shows him in a shirt instead of his usual flowing cloak.
He swapped his religious clothes for shirts and trousers and changed from blue to a pink turban.
Another clip shows him getting out of the car and fleeing with three accomplices on two bikes. This change occurs near a green field across the road.
Police believe he hid in a gurudwara, changed clothes again and fled.
They also released photographs of Amritpal Singh in multiple guises, suspecting that he may have changed his appearance and hoping that people could help identify him.
The Breja has been seized and four people who helped Amritpal Singh escape have been arrested.
Since Saturday till now, more than 120 people including Amritpal Singh’s uncle have been arrested. Several members of his organization “Waris Punjab Dey” have also been arrested under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and detained in BJP-ruled Assam. Internet was suspended for three days but was restored in some parts today.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court reprimanded the Punjab Police and asked how Amritpal Singh could dodge them again and again.
“You have 80,000 policemen. What were they doing. How did Amritpal Singh escape?” Describing it as an intelligence failure, the High Court asked the Punjab government.
The police crackdown on Amritpal Singh came three weeks after clashes between his supporters and the police on 23 February. They stormed a police station, brandishing swords and firearms, threatening the police with dire consequences if they did not release Singh’s associate Lovepreet Toofan, who was arrested on charges of assaulting and kidnapping a man. .
Amritpal Singh has been active in Punjab for some years and is often seen waving from the sunroof of his Mercedes escorted by armed supporters. He claims to be a follower of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a terrorist killed in Operation Blue Star in 1984, and is known among his supporters as “Bhindranwale 2.0”.