• Source:JND
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AMRITPAL Singh, the Khalistani preacher who had been on the run for the last month, was arrested by the Punjab police on Sunday in Moga and later brought to the Air Force Station in Bathinda. He was taken to Dibrugarh in Assam by a special aircraft, from where he will be taken to Dibrugarh Central Jail.

Besides Amritpal, who is being shifted to Dibrugarh Jail, nine other aides of Waris Punjab De Chief are already lodged there and have been charged under the stringent National Security Act. Daljit Singh Kalsi, Papalpreet Singh, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, Varinder Singh Johal, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala, Harjit Singh, Bhagwant Singh, Basant Singh, and Gurinderpal Singh Aujla have already been caught by the police and are in the Central Jail in Dibrugarh.

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The reason for sending Amritpal Singh and his close associates is still unknown, as there has been no official statement by the police, but some reports show that the Dibrugarh jail was heavily fortified and was used during the peak of ULFA militancy in Assam to hold top militants. The other reason for Amritpal's being shifted to Assam could be the presence of other associates of the Khalistani leader. Also, there were fears of a possible jail break, and central agencies had raised concerns that Waris Punjab De supporters might try to repeat Ajnala-like incident. In February this year, members of the radical outfit laid seize on a police station in Ajnala, demanding the release of one of their leaders, Toofan.

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According to people familiar with the matter, as reported by the Hindustan Times, the Punjab government initially thought of sending Amritpal aides to Delhi’s Tihar jail, but because the Delhi prison houses many Punjabi gangsters, even some separatists, the government decided to send them to Assam.

As Dibrugarh is now housing Khalistan radicals, security in and around the premises has been beefed up, and there are several layers of security in the cell where Amritpal's aides are lodged, officials stated.

"We now have CRPF personnel guarding the jail round-the-clock. There are also commandos from the Assam Police. 57 CCTV cameras monitor the prisoners inside and the movement of visitors at the jail gates. Our teams fixed non-functional CCTV camera and set up high-mast lights when we were informed that the NSA-prisoners from Punjab would be brought here," a jail official was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.