Ajnala police station attack: Court frames charges against 41, including 9 Amritpal aides

Hindustan Times

6 days ago

A local court in Amritsar on Thursday framed charges against 41 accused, including nine close aides of jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, in the Ajnala police station attack case. Supporters of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh clashing with police personnel in Ajnala. (HT File)
The accused, including nine aides of the jailed MP, were produced in the court of additional session judge Parinder Singh amid tight security.
The radical Sikh leader, who heads Waris Punjab De (WPD), is still lodged in Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam after his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) was extended by a year. The rest of his aides have been brought back to the state to face trial in various cases after the Punjab government revoked their detentions under the NSA in March and April.
Among those produced in court include Kulwant Singh Rauke, Bhagwant Singh alias Pardhan Mantri Bajeke, Amritpal's uncle Harjeet Singh Chacha, Gurinder Pal Singh alias Guri, Gurmeet Singh Bukanwala, Daljit Singh Kalsi, Basant Singh, Varinder Singh Johal and Varinder Singh alias Fauji. All nine were lodged in Assam.
Charges were framed against 41 persons under section 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault on public servant), 186 (obstructing any public servant in the discharge of his public functions), 506 (Criminal intimidation), 332 (causes hurt to any person being a public servant), 333 (causing grievous hurt to deter a public servant from their duty), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 427 (causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees or upwards), 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 25 of Arms Act, defence council advocate Rituraj Singh Sandhu said.
In February 2023, Amritpal and his associates were booked under various charges for allegedly attacking the Ajnala police station to get one of his aides released from the cops' custody.
Six cops were injured in the clash. A month later, on March 18, police began a crackdown against Amritpal and his aides.
Police intercepted Amritpal's cavalcade near Mehatpur town in Jalandhar, but the WPD chief managed to give the cop a slip along with his close aide Papalpreet. What followed was a month-long manhunt which culminated on April 23 when Amritpal surrendered at Rode village in Moga district.
Advocate Sandhu said the evidence trial would start from August 2 in this case. 'The prosecution will present evidence and witnesses in the court. The trial will be conducted daily as per the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This case will have to be settled in two months,' Sandhu said.
'Amritpal will not be part of the trial as his NSA detention hasn't ended,' the lawyer added.
Cops made us sign statements against Amritpal: Bhagwant
While being produced in court, jail MP's close aide Bhagwant Singh denied that he made any statements which claimed that the radical Sikh leader 'consumes drugs' while being lodged in Dibrugarh jail.
His statement came after police filed a challan in Ajnala court last week, submitting statements made by Bhagwant and Varinder, which mentioned 'allegations' against Amritpal.
As the cops were taking Bhagwant to court, he started shouting, apparently making a statement for the media present that his statement had been taken under duress.
'The police have alleged that Amritpal consumes drugs based on my statement. They forcibly made us sign scores of papers and got our statements recorded. All these allegations are false,' he said.
Amritpal's counsel, Imaan Singh Khara, said the statements had no legal value 'These were recorded under Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act and could easily be challenged in the court. Statements recorded in police custody are not relied upon by the court,' he said.
There was also a minor scuffle between the kin of the accused as the cops as the former tried to get close to them.