As he was being chased by the police, radical preacher and Waris Punjab De leader Amritpal Singh spent nearly an hour at a gurdwara in Jalandhar, changed clothes and ate langar with four of his aides.
Ranjit Singh, the priest of the Nangal Ambian gurdwara, said that at the time when Amritpal came with four other men, he did not know that they were wanted and being chased by the police.
Amritpal and four other men reached the gurdwara at 1 pm on Saturday, and left at 1:45 PM after they ate food, offered their prayers, and Singh changed his clothes.
Ranjit, talking to the Indian Express, said that Amritpal and the men said that they were going to some programme for which they needed to change their clothes.
“I was surprised but I did what they said and got my son’s clothes,” Ranjit said.
Ranjit was worried that they were going to create a ruckus, but did not suspect foul play as they were not drawing any attention to themselves and creating any nuisance.
“When I heard he was here, I was very worried because I thought his men may have come to break something as they had done in Jalandhar,” he said, Indian Express reported.
After the change of clothes, the men had langar, and one of the aides of Amritpal spoke on the phone and asked how was the ‘mahaul,’ the priest recalled.
Before they were leaving, Amritpal asked if he could borrow the priest’s phone and said that he was just nearby and will return it.
Ranjit waited outside the gurdwara, and after a short while, Amritpal gave him his phone back and left the area.
It was only around 4 pm that Ranjit realised the seriousness of the situation, and was scared, at first, to tell the police or anyone as he thought he will be seen as an accomplice.
This comes as Amritpal continues to remain on the run, even as Punjab police have launched a multi-pronged search operation for him.
Amid the massive manhunt to locate and arrest Amritpal Singh, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reportedly reached Punjab on Tuesday. Media reports quoted sources as saying that the NIA was seeking details and documents related to the Amritpal’s Singh case from the Punjab police and may take over the case from Tuesday.
Punjab Police arrested four people on Tuesday for allegedly Amritpal Singh escape their net. Releasing seven photographs of the Khalistan sympathiser, including some in which he is not wearing a turban, Punjab Police sought public help to nab the fugitive.
Ban on internet services was partially lifted in Punjab on Tuesday as the quest for the Khalistani leader continued for the fourth day.
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