- Sunday, March 02, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh, who has been on the run ever since the police in the northern Indian state of Punjab launched a manhunt on March 18, underwent eye surgery in Georgia to resemble slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale before returning to India last year, India Today reported citing intelligence sources.
Aides of Singh, who are currently in a jail in Dibrugarh in the north-eastern state of Assam after the police slapped charges under the National Security Act on them, revealed it, the report added.
According to the fugitive leader’s associates, the latter was in Georgia for two months last year and it was then when he had undergone the surgery.
While the police have yet not succeeded in nabbing Singh, who also heads the ‘Waris Punjab De’ (heirs of Punjab) outfit, he has been seen in two purported videos and an audio clip that have been doing rounds on social media in recent times.
A number of Singh’s aides, including his uncle, have been arrested.
The police action came nearly over three weeks after Singh’s supporters clashed with personnel at the Ajnala police station on the outskirts of Amritsar in Punjab to release one of their colleagues who was arrested for allegedly assaulting and abducting a man.
Singh has tried to establish himself as Bhindranwale 2.0 by imitating the slain leader’s style in wearing turban, robes and other Sikh symbols. Bhindranwale was killed in clashes between Khalistani terrorists and the Indian Army personnel during Operation Blue Star in June 1984.
Once a resident of the UAE and leading a non-orthodox lifestyle, the 30-year-old Singh became a Khalistani ideologue after becoming the chief of ‘Waris Punjab De’ and started promoting separatist sentiments.
He was appointed to the post by his supporters at an event held in Rode village of Punjab’s Moga district, where Bhindranwale was born, in September last year.
After assuming the role of ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief, Singh, dressed like Bhindranwale, had his pictures clicked in a way that he resembled the latter and allegedly gave provocative speeches to gather support.
