Punjab Police on Thursday submitted a comprehensive 1,200-page challan against jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh regarding the February 2023 Ajnala police station siege, paving the way for his trial to begin in the Amritsar district and sessions court on May 2.
Produced via videoconferencing from Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam following the expiry of his judicial remand, the Waris Punjab De chief appeared before Ajnala sub-divisional judicial magistrate Palwinder Singh.
Defence counsel Ritu Raj Singh Sandhu confirmed that the court has now transferred the matter to the senior sessions court, with Amritpal’s next appearance scheduled for the trial’s opening date.
Amritpal was sent to judicial custody on April 30 after a two-day police remand and was formally re-arrested on April 23, immediately after his National Security Act (NSA) detention expired.
The Punjab and Haryana high court recently allowed the Punjab government’s request to maintain his detention at the Assam jail. To process his arrest for the Ajnala violence—where he and 41 supporters are accused of storming the station, clashing with police, and attempting murder to free an aide—a Punjab Police team travelled to Dibrugarh to conduct his 48-hour remand locally.
Amritpal and his accomplices have been booked under multiple sections of the IPC—307 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault on public servant), 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharge of duties), 506 (criminal intimidation), 332 (causing hurt to a public servant), 333 (causing grievous hurt to deter a public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 427 (mischief causing damage), 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence)—along with Section 25 of the Arms Act.
Nine of Amritpal’s aides were brought back to Punjab last year after the government decided not to extend their NSA detention. Apart from Papalpreet, a key associate and media adviser who was recently brought back, the others include Kulwant Singh Rauke, Harjeet Singh Chacha, Gurinder Pal Singh alias Guri, Gurmeet Singh Bukanwala, Bhagwant Singh, Daljit Singh Kalsi, Basant Singh and Varinder Singh alias Fauji. They are currently lodged in different jails across Punjab.
There are at least 12 FIRs pending against Amritpal and his supporters, apart from the Ajnala case. The FIRs have been registered in Amritsar (Rural), Jalandhar, and Moga and are primarily linked to incidents of violence and intimidation. A case has also been registered for the murder of social media influencer Gurpreet Singh alias Hari Nau, in which the cops claim that the MP was the main conspirator. Gurpreet was shot dead in Kotkapura on October 9, 2024, while he was returning home from the village gurdwara on his motorcycle.
Police have named Canada-based terrorist Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla among the 17 accused in the case. Other cases against the Sikh preacher include two cases for promoting enmity registered in Amritsar on February 22, 2023, and Baghapurana on February 22, 2023.
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