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- Arrest comes after a month-long manhunt for self-styled preacher.
- Police accuse Singh, supporters of tried homicide and different offences.
- Rise of Singh has revived speak of impartial Sikh homeland Khalistan.
NEW DELHI: Indian police have arrested Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh after looking for him for greater than a month, a state police official mentioned on Sunday, a transfer in opposition to the revival of an impartial homeland within the state of Punjab bordering Pakistan.
The rise of Singh, a preacher within the northwestern state of Punjab the place Sikhs are within the majority, has revived speak of Khalistan — an impartial Sikh homeland — and stoked fears of a return to violence that killed tens of 1000’s of individuals within the Eighties and early Nineties throughout a Sikh insurgency.
“Amritpal Singh has been arrested from the Rode village in Moga district, Punjab on the idea of particular intelligence,” Sukhchain Singh Gill, a prime official of the Punjab police informed reporters.
The arrest of Amritpal Singh, 30 — who leads a gaggle known as Waris Punjab De (the heirs of Punjab) — comes after the self-styled preacher and tons of of his supporters stormed a police station with swords and firearms, demanding the discharge of considered one of his aides.
Police have accused Singh and his supporters of tried homicide, obstruction of legislation enforcement, and creating disharmony, and mentioned he had been on the run since mid-March.
He was arrested within the village gurudwara, a Sikh temple, underneath the Nationwide Safety Act, which permits for these deemed a menace to nationwide safety to be detained with out cost for as much as a yr, the police official mentioned.
Gill mentioned he can be moved to Dibrugarh, within the state of Assam, the place a few of his associates are already in jail.
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