Intensify crusade against drug menace, Punjab CM tells police Officers
Chairing a meeting of the Commissioners of Police (CPs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs), the CM asked the officers to adopt a zero tolerance policy against drugs.
Fugitive Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police in Moga district on Sunday.
Addressing a Press conference here, Inspector General of Police (IGP) headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill said Amritpal, who was on the run since 18 March when the state police launched a crackdown against the radical preacher and his supporters, was arrested at 6:45 am from Rode in Moga.
“We had special inputs that he (Amritpal) was hiding in Rode village gurdwara. Police had surrounded the village but we didn’t enter the gurdwara as the maryada of a religious place is supreme for us. Amritpal courted arrest as he had no place to run,” said Gill, adding the police maintained relentless pressure for 35 days to catch Amritpal.
Amritpal was taken to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, where eight of his aides are already being held under the National Security Act (NSA).
Meanwhile, confirming the arrest of Amritpal Singh, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said that the Aam Aadmi government is duty bound to preserve the hard earned peace and communal harmony in the state.
“Law is taking its own course in the case of Amritpal Singh, who was a stooge in hands of the forces inimical to the state and country, and no action is being taken against the innocents”, said the CM in a statement issued today.
The CM said the state could have arrested Amritpal only on March 18 but they never wanted any bloodshed and today the separatist leader has been arrested without firing a single bullet.
He said this was a deep rooted conspiracy to disturb the peace, amity and brotherhood in the state but the state government has foiled it by arresting all the key players.
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Mann said the self proclaimed religious leader Amritpal Singh, ran an organization which provoked youth to take arms and indulge in illegal activities against the country, has been arrested.
The CM said the youth of the state will not be allowed to become raw material for the hate factories being run in the name of religion. He said they want to see books, laptops, jobs , medals and appointment leaders of key posts in the hands of youth but these leaders want to disarray the youth by asking them to take weapons in their hands.
He said that some forces are highly mistaken that they can divide people on communal lines because the peace loving Punjabis will thwart any such attempt.
The CM said Punjab has a very fertile land and anything can germinate on it except hatred and animosity.
The CM said Punjab has a very fertile land and anything can germinate on it except hatred and animosity.
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