Could have gone to other countries: Amritpal Singh’s last message before arrest

In his last message to his followers before the arrest, Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh said he believed that with the grace of his gurus, one day he would be able to come among his people again and that he wanted the agitation to continue as he goes to the jail.

The month-long chase exposed the true face of the state as it did not appear as an attempt to arrest, Amritpal Singh said. “I had no fear of arrest earlier nor do I have it now,” Amritpal Singh said.

Amritpal Singh said he was unlikely to run away at a time when his supporters are being persecuted by the state. He has the opportunities to go to other countries, but he ‘decided to surrender’ — and at the place where it all started. “My Dastar Bandi (anointment as the chief of Waris Punjab De) was done at this gurdwara built at the birthplace of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. After taking the blessing of the guru, I will give the arrest,” he said.

The curtains came down in the month-long Amritpal Singh episode on Sunday all of a sudden after he reportedly surrendered at a Gurudwara which police contradicted and said they arrested Amritpal Singh after he was surrounded from all sides and had no way out.

Amritpal Singh and his video messages

Amid this arrest vs surrender debate, these videos are surfacing showing it like a pre-planned operation as in this video Amritpal said he would be surrendering on April 23. Apart from this video, Amritpal Singh was seen addressing his followers at the gurdwara before his arrest. There too, Amritpal announced that he would surrender. In the past one month, when Amritpal’s whereabouts remained unknown, he kept issuing video messages to maintain his narrative that he has not absconded

Revered as Bhindranwale 2.0 among his followers, Amritpal Singh came on the radar of the police after his warning to Union home minister Amit Shah, and the clash between his followers with the police. A massive crackdown was launched on March 18, but Amritpal gave cops the slip.

From Punjab, Amritpal believed to have fled to Haryana and then Delhi and then re-entered Punjab. The arrest of his close aides Papalpreet, Toofan, Joga Singh brought the cops closer to Amritpal Singh. As the hunt went on, Amritpal’s wife Kirandeep Kaur was stopped at Amritsar Airport from flying to the UK.

When Amritpal Singh remained elusive, it was speculated that the Khalistani leader with ISI link would try to flee the country. The government in Nepal was asked to make sure that Amritpal can’t escape to a third country, in case he was hiding there.