breaking news Punjab police register two more firs against Amritpal Singh and extend internet ban till Monday

The Punjab government has extended the suspension of mobile internet and SMS services until midday Monday, even as the hunt for radical Sikh preacher and Khalistan sympathizer Amritpal Singh continues.

State authorities had suspended Internet and SMS services on Saturday until noon on Sunday.

Police earlier announced that they would soon arrest the fugitive preacher.

“In exercise of the power vested in me under the India Telegraph Act, 1885, it is ordered that all Mobile Internet Services (2G/3G/45/5G/CDMA/GPRS), all SMS (excluding banking and mobile recharge services) and all dongle services provided over mobile networks, except voice calls, within the territorial jurisdiction of Punjab will additionally be suspended from March 19 (12:00 p.m.) to March 20 (12:00 p.m.) to prevent any incitement to violence and any disturbance of peace and public order,” said an official order issued on Sunday.

Meanwhile, two more FIRs have been registered against radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his associates in connection with the recovery of a weapon from an abandoned vehicle and breaking through police barricades in Jalandhar.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Jalandhar Range) Swapan Sharma said one of the FIRs was registered on Sunday after a weapon and several dozen live rounds were recovered from the vehicle, believed to be part of the convoy of Amritpal Singh on Saturday.

Police discovered the car abandoned in the village of Salema in the Shahkot of Jalandhar on Sunday.

The second case was recorded on Saturday after Amritpal Singh and his associates broke through police barricades in Jalandhar, Sharma said.

Earlier, the police registered an FIR on February 24 against Amritpal Singh and his associates in relation to the Ajnala incident that occurred the previous day.

On February 23, Amritpal and his followers, some of them wielding swords and guns, broke through barricades and stormed into Ajnala police station on the outskirts of Amritsar, clashing with police to the release of one of Amritpal’s assistants.

Responding to a question whether the four Amritpal supporters were taken to Dibrugarh in Assam, DIG said it was confidential.

He said 10 Amritpal associates were arrested on Saturday.

He added that some phones had been recovered and sent for technical analysis.

In Salema village, police seized the ammunition and said the black colored multi-purpose car was most likely part of Amritpal’s convoy on Saturday.

The same car was also captured in video a day earlier, they said.

A rifle, 57 live rounds, a sword and a license plate were among the items found in the vehicle, police said.

The vehicle was found in an abandoned condition in Salema village in the Shahkot of Jalandhar, said Swarandeep Singh, Chief Superintendent of Jalandhar Rural Police.

Interacting with reporters at the location where the vehicle was found, Singh said: “We have learned that an abandoned vehicle has been found in Salema village.” “The key to the vehicle was also there. A private walkie-talkie, a .315 caliber rifle and 57 live rounds were found,” he said.

On Saturday, police said they had launched a “massive statewide cordon and search operation (CASO)” in the state against elements of the Amritpal-led “Waris Punjab De” (WPD), against whom several criminal cases have been initiated. registered.

A police spokesman said WPD elements are involved in four criminal cases related to spreading class discord, attempted murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstruction of the lawful exercise of the functions of civil servants.

Amritpal Singh, back in Dubai, was appointed head of ‘Waris Punjab De’ following the death of its founder – actor and activist Deep Sidhu – in a road accident in February last year .