Know why Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh and his aides shifted to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail

Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh, who surrendered on April 23 before the Punjab Police in Monga, has been flown to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail in a special flight amid tight security. 

Several of Amritpal’s aides including Papalpreet Singh, who was arrested from Punjab’s Hoshiyarpur on April 10 and being held under the National Security Act are already lodged in the high-security prison.

Officials have cited presence of other gangsters familiar to the separatist group as the key reason behind shifting the members of the outfit ‘Waris Punjab De’ to Assam’s Dibrugarh Centrel Jail.

A total of nine aides including Amritpal Singh’s uncle, who acted as a financer and media advisor for the outfit are lodged in the Dibrugarh jail. 

As per reports, all of the arrested aides of Amritpal Singh’s aides have a criminal background and are suspected to be former supporters of Deep Sidhu, a Punjabi actor who floated the ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit which Amritpal now leads.

As per the authorities, the Dibrugarh jail is the most secure prison in the state and the oldest in the northeast where several top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I)  were lodged during their uprising.
It is noteworthy that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma previously said that the transfer of Amritpal’s aides to Dibrugarh jail was part of police-to-police cooperation and that it is not the first time that criminals or fugitives of one state have been transferred to another state jail.

Additionally, authorities have claimed that the Dibrugarh jail is better equipped to manage inmates with a capacity to house 680 prisoners.

Also read : Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh surrenders in Punjab's Moga, to be brought to Dibrugarh Central Jail: Sources