The security footage from a toll booth in Jalandhar shows him in a Brezza.
New Delhi:
Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh, who has dodged thousands of policemen for four days in a dramatic hunt across Punjab, has been caught on security footage during different stages of his escape.
In footage exclusively accessed by NDTV, Amritpal Singh is seen exiting a car and hightailing it along with his aides on bikes.
The 30-year-old radical preacher is seen in a clip from a toll booth in Jalandhar at around 11.27 am on Saturday, the day the Punjab police launched its operation to arrest him. He is in the front seat of a Maruti Brezza.
Before this, Amritpal Singh had been spotted in a Mercedes SUV that he dumped by a road in Shahkot. Hours later, he switched to the Maruti Brezza of an associate, sources say. He apparently changed his clothes in the car, as the footage shows him in a shirt instead of his usual flowing robes.
He swapped his religious clothes for shirt and trousers and changed from a blue to a pink turban.
Another clip shows him leaving the car and making his getaway along with three aides in two bikes.
The police believe he hid in a Gurdwara, changed his clothes again and fled.
They also released photos of Amritpal Singh in multiple looks, suspecting he might have changed his appearance and hoping that people could help spot him.
The Brezza has been seized, and four people who helped Amritpal Singh run away have been arrested.
More than 120 people, including Amritpal Singh’s uncle, have been arrested since Saturday. Several members of his outfit “Waris Punjab De” have also been arrested under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and detained in BJP-ruled Assam. Internet was suspended for three days but was restored in parts today.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court slammed the Punjab police and questioned how Amritpal Singh could give them the slip repeatedly.
“You have 80,000 cops. What were they doing. How did Amritpal Singh escape?” the High Court asked the Punjab government, calling it an intelligence failure.
The police crackdown on Amritpal Singh came three weeks after his supporters clashed with cops on February 23. They stormed a police station, flashing swords and firearms, threatening the police with huge consequences if they did not release Singh’s aide Lovepreet Toofan, who was arrested for allegedly assaulting and abducting a man.
Amritpal Singh has been active in Punjab for some years and is often seen waving from the sunroof of his Mercedes, escorted by armed supporters. He claims to be a follower of terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed in Operation Bluestar in 1984, and is known as “Bhindranwale 2.0” among his supporters.