Guwahati, Mar 20, 2025, IANS

Guwahati, March 20 (IANS) Seven aides of jailed Sikh radical preacher Amritpal Singh will be taken to Punjab from Assam’s Dibrugarh Central Jail on Thursday under tight security, officials said. Seven NSA detainees associated with Amritpal Singh will be taken to Punjab by a special police team by flight under tight security. A senior official said, “Punjab Police have secured their transit remand, completing the legal transfer process from Dibrugarh Central Jail.” According to the official, they will be taken on two different flights. Three of the seven aides of Amritpal will be taken on a flight and four others will be sent in a different aircraft from Dibrugarh to Punjab. In the past two days, four detainees -- Gurmeet Singh, Bhagwant Singh (alias Pradhan Mantri Bajeke), Daljit Singh Kalsi, and Basant Singh -- were released by the Dibrugarh jail authorities. Immediately upon their release, Punjab Police re-arrested them in relation to a case registered at the Ajnala Police Station in Punjab. The re-arrested individuals were subsequently presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's (CJM) Court in Dibrugarh. As per court orders, they were placed under transit remand on March 17 and 18 for further legal proceedings. Meanwhile, the remaining detainees -- Kulwant Singh, Harjeet Singh, and Kulwinder Pal Singh -- were released on Wednesday as their NSA detention period has expired. Following their release, Punjab Police produced them before the judicial court in Dibrugarh and sought transit remand for further legal actions. Amritpal Singh, the leader of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit, and his nine aides were lodged in the Dibrugarh jail in Assam as NSA was slapped on them two years ago. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Singh contested as an Independent and emerged victorious from the Khadoor Sahib seat in Punjab. The detainees had been lodged in Dibrugarh Central Jail since March 2023, following a crackdown on Amritpal Singh and his associates in Punjab. Authorities had invoked the NSA due to concerns regarding their involvement in activities that could disturb public order and national security. According to a top Punjab Police official, the inquiry into the 2023 attack incident at the Ajnala police station would continue. The official further stated that 10 individuals who were detained under the NSA have not yet been formally arrested in connection with the attack on the Ajnala police station. He stated, “We are moving forward with the investigation. We will arrest the seven individuals in that incident and return them to Punjab.” “We will bring them here in that case and take forward the investigation,” the senior police official added.