A heavy police force has been deployed outside the Ajnala jail in Punjab's Amritsar after a court on Friday ordered the release of the radical preacher Amritpal Singh's aide Lovepreet Toofan in a kidnapping case. The Inspector General of Police, Amritsar, Border Range, Monish Chawla told PTI over phone that the court has accepted the discharge application and Lovepreet Singh was being released.
SSP Amritsar told news agency ANI, "Lovepreet Toofan is being released as the evidence they produced established that he was not present on the spot. We are submitting that to the court. Force deployed as a precautionary measure and the situation is under control."
Reacting to the order, 'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh said that the court has given the release order for Lovepreet Toofan.
"After his release we will take him to Shri Harmandir Sahib to pay obeisance," ANI quoted Singh as saying.
The development comes a day after his supporters and head of 'Waris Punjab De' Amritpal Singh went on a rampage in Punjab's Amritsar. Armed with swords, lathis and guns they attacked police, broke barricades and gathered outside Ajnala police station. Stones were also pelted.
The Punjab Police had recently registered an FIR against the Khalistan activist Amritpal Singh as well as his associates on charges including abduction and rioting.
The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by one Barinder Singh, a resident of Salempur village in Chamkaur Sahib, who said that he was beaten up by Amritpal and his men.
Amritpal Singh has also been in the news recently for his remarks on Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Singh, had said Shah’s "fate will be similar to that of former prime minister Indira Gandhi", according to a PTI report.
In September last year, Amritpal was made the head of a faction of Waris Punjab De, a social organisation founded by late Punjabi actor and lawyer Deep Sidhu, who died in a road accident in February last year.