Radical preacher Amritpal Singh’s mentor and close aide Papalpreet Singh was nabbed in Amritsar district and detained under the National Security Act, police said on Monday.
Papalpreet has allegedly been in contact with Pakistan’s ISI.
Addressing the media here, Punjab Police Inspector General (Headquarters) Sukhchain Singh Gill said, “He (Papalpreet) is the main associate of Amritpal Singh. He has been arrested from Kathunangal area in Amritsar.”
He said Papalpreet has been detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and that six other cases have also been registered against him.
Earlier, officials said Papalpreet was arrested in a Punjab Police operation that also involved its counter intelligence wing. They had also said that he was arrested in Hoshiarpur.
Gill said legal action will be taken against Papalpreet.
The police had been conducting searches at many places, including Hoshiarpur, to nab the duo who had been hoodwinking the securitymen since March 18 when police had launched a crackdown against the Khalistan sympathiser and his aides.
Papalpreet’s arrest comes days after a CCTV footage made the rounds on social media in which he could be seen at a ‘dera’ (place for religious congregation) in a village in Hoshiarpur.
The footage is said to be of March 29, a day after a team of the counter intelligence wing chased an Innova car from Phagwara to Hoshiarpur after the police suspected that the fugitive and his aides could be in that vehicle.
The “dera”, seen in the footage, is in village Tanauli which is located just two to three kilometers away from Marnaian village in Hoshiarpur where the police had launched a massive search operation in search of the suspects.
It is believed that both Papalpreet and Amritpal could have separated in Hoshiarpur following the police chase of their vehicle.