Threats to Shah and Mann basis of NSA on Amritpal

Gurugram: It was threats issued in Ajanala, of replicating Beant Singh’s fate for Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Indira Gandhi’s for Home Minister Amit Shah that made Khalistani separatist Amritpal a national threat. The dossier submitted by Punjab Police to NSA advisory board has cited his hate speeches, undermining sovereignty of the country and plans to start a civil war as grounds to invoking stringent act NSA against the radical leader and his aides.

The allegations however have been refuted by the  Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) legal team representing Singh and 9 others connected with Waris Punjab De and currently lodged under preventive detention in Dibrugarh Jail. “This is all politically motivated. They are ready to face punishment if even one allegation is proved. There was no crime history, no heinous crimes but still NSA was slapped on all and we will contest it,” said executive member of the SGPC and legal counsel Bhagwant Singh Siyalka as he came out after meeting Amritpal and associates in jail today. “There is no criminal background of those arrested. It is definitely a conspiracy as there is no reason for them to be booked under the NSA. Amritpal was campaigning against drug abuse and was also engaged in preaching the tenets of Sikhism. We have appealed in the high court to quash the charges under the NSA against them and the next date of hearing has been fixed for May 1,” added another lawyer Simranjeet Singh who accompanied him. The duo confirmed the apt treatment of all arrested by investigating agencies in Jail. They are being served Punjabi North Indian food as well.

The lawyers were accompanied by the family members including Amritpal’s uncle Sukhchain Singh. The families contested that those arrested were sole earning members and they had been left in dire economic crises after the arrest. Meanwhile a special joint team of the Intelligence Bureau and Punjab Police is currently interrogating Amritpal Singh who has been kept in solitary confinement in the jail since he was brought here. Sources claim that he is primarily being questioned over his links with Babbar Khalsa and ISI. Investigators are trying to trace the alleged handlers of Singh who planted him in Punjab. Sources also reveal that his close associate and Punjabi actor Daljeet Singh Kalsi, who was arrested from Gurugram, is being probed about foreign funding as he was key in arranging the same. The nine detainees lodged in the high security jail are are Daljeet Singh Kalsi, Papalpreet Singh, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, Varinder Singh Johal, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala, Harjit Singh, Bhagwant Singh, Basant Singh and Gurinderpal Singh Aujla.