Police sources said the suspect in the car was believed to be the fugitive Amripal, whose aides abandoned the car and fled near Gurdwara Bhai Chanchal Singh in Marnaian village.
Updated – Wed 29 Mar 23 at 09:54 AM
Hoshyarpur: Punjab police launched a massive house-to-house search operation in a village in Hoshiarpur after learning that radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his aides might be in the area.
The police operation began late Tuesday night, with a heavy presence in and around the Marnaian village, after some suspects abandoned their vehicles after a chase.
Police sources said a team from the Punjab Police counterintelligence unit pursued a vehicle from Paghwala on Tuesday night, suspecting that fugitive Amripal and his aides might be inside the vehicle.
Police sources said the suspects, believed to be 3 to 4 years old, abandoned their car and fled near Gurdwara Bhai Chanchal Singh in Marnaian village here.
A cordon and search operation was launched in and around the village on Tuesday night, while checkpoints and roadblocks were erected on roads to apprehend suspects.
Police also conducted a door-to-door search operation late Tuesday night to arrest the suspect.
Police in Punjab have been on high alert after a radical pro-Khalistan preacher escaped the net.
Amripal Singh has been untraceable since the March 18 police crackdown on him and members of his pro-Khalistan “Punjab War” group, about three weeks before he and his supporters stormed Amman Ajnala police station near Liza to secure the release of an arrested man.
The missionary escaped police in the Jalandhar area on March 18, switching vehicles and changing appearance.
He and his accomplices were charged with multiple criminal cases for sowing class discord, attempted murder, assaulting police officers and obstructing public servants from performing their duties according to law.
A new video of Amritpal Singh and his main aide Papalpreet Singh emerged on social media on Tuesday, showing the pro-Khalistan The missionaries were not wearing hoods, but masks.
The undated CCTV footage, purportedly from a market in Delhi, shows the fugitive walking down the street wearing dark glasses. Behind him, Papalpreet Singh can be seen walking with a bag on his back.
There has been no official word from the Punjab police regarding the new footage.
A senior Delhi police official said they were investigating whether those shown in the video were Amritpal Singh and his aides.
