Interim Akal Takht Jathedar Dhian Singh Mand (C) in police custody at the civil hospital in Amritsar. Sarbat Khalsa organisers also Held.
AMRITSAR – As a fallout of the resolutions passed at the Sarbat Khalsa on November 10, key leaders appointed “parallel jathedars” and organisers of the event were put behind bars Thursday.
To keep these leaders away from each other due to security reasons, the state government carried out a day-long exercise shifting them to different jails today.
Prominent among those arrested were Baljit Singh Daduwal, Dhian Singh Mand and Amrik Singh Ajnala, who were appointed jathedars of Takht Damdama Sahib, Akal Takht (officiating) and Takht Keshgarh Sahib, SAD (A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, Sikh hardliner leader Wassan Singh Zaffarwal and United Akali Dal leader Gurdeep Singh, United Akal Dal’s Mokham Singh (chief organiser of the Sarbat Khalsa).
While Simranjit Singh Mann has been released, Daduwal has been lodged in Hoshiarpur jail, Mand in Nabha jail, Ajnala in Ferozepur jail, Zaffarwal in Gurdaspur jail, Gurdeep Singh in Bathinda jail, Mokham Singh in Ludhiana jail, Satnam Singh Manawa in Pathankot jail, Jaskaran Singh Kahn Singh Wala in Ropal jail and Sikandar Singh Varana in Nabha jail.
All of them were produced before the executive magistrates concerned under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC. The magistrates endorsed their judicial custody for 14 days. Later, they were shifted to different jails.
They were taken into custody to prevent them from proceeding towards the Golden Temple for the customary address on the occasion of “Bandi Chhor Divas” (Diwali).
Mand, who had been evading arrest since yesterday morning, could be taken into custody only after his dramatic appearance at the Golden Temple complex around 4.15 pm yesterday. He delivered a parallel “Bandi Chhor Divas address”.
Daduwal and his four followers were arrested by the Patti police from Sarali Mandan village, around 20 km from Tarn Taran, last late evening. His arrested followers were identified as Narinder Singh (Mansa), Rajwinder Singh, Gurwinder Singh (both from Bathinda) and Karanbeer Singh (Amritsar).
No senior police official was willing to officially comment on the development.
Simranjit Singh Mann, who was also taken in preventive custody from his house at New Amritsar yesterday, was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital due to health reasons. He said his arrest was illegal for lack of warrants and that he would challenge the police atrocities in the high court.
Condemning the arrest of “jathedars” and their supporters, Mann said the action was taken at the behest of the Badal government. “We demand the arrested persons be freed immediately, or it may lead to a serious law and order problem. We also want action against police officials who arrested them,” he said.
