The police today shifted Papalpreet, an aide of Khalistani activist Amritpal Singh, to Dibrugarh (Assam) under the National Security Act.
While Amritpal remains at large for 24 days, the police, mentioning Papalpreet’s arrest, tweeted, “You can run, but you can’t hide from the long arm of the law.”
The Khalistani activist had in one of his recent videos said he was not running away from the law and would ‘appear’ before the public whenever he wanted.
A team of the Amritsar police took him on a flight from Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar, to Assam. Despite the heavy security around him, Papalpreet spoke to media persons while walking out of the police station, “The police claims are right that he was arrested from Kathunangal yesterday.”
He will share the barrack with eight other Punjab youths, who are already lodged in the Dibrugarh jail facing the NSA.
He had got separated from Amritpal on March 28.
Police sources said Papalpreet had given details of their hideouts since March 18 when the police swooped down on him. They said as suspected earlier through various photos and videos of the duo found by the police, they chose an abandoned bridge on the Sutlej to escape from Jalandhar district. From there, they went to Patiala, Ambala, New Delhi, Pilibhit and back to Hoshirapur.
The police sources said they had planned to escape to Pakistan or some other country from Nepal but due to the alert sounded by security agencies, they could not leave the country.
They travelled by a bike, a scooty, a ‘motorcycle rehra’ and a truck belonging to deras and gurdwaras and changed appearances. They used mobile phones of the persons who helped them in transportation or providing shelters.
Papalpreet claimed that he did not have the latest contact and location of Amritpal but he would surrender. The police have not disclosed if Papalpreet was in touch with Khalistani elements in the UK and Canada or with terrorist groups in Pakistan, supported by the ISI.
“We have got several leads which cannot be shared due to the ongoing investigation,” said a senior police official, who is part of the team of the top police officers that questioned Papalpreet.
