Amritsar (Punjab) [India], September 27 (ANI): Two persons were arrested during the intervening night of September 25 and 26 by Amritsar Police for allegedly supporting pro-Khalistan slogans and in connection with "Referendum 2020" written at Hall Road and Bhandari Bridge, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Jaskaran Singh Teja said on Saturday.
The DCP said the police traced the incident within five hours and arrested the accused.
The two accused have been identified as Arshdeep and Manoj. The police also recovered their mobile phones, which allegedly contained evidence related to the incident, he added.
DCP Teja informed that the three other individuals have also been named in this case, including two US-based persons—one of them being a white guy and the other allegedly associated with Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is the chief of the banned organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ).
Pannun, who has been designated as a terrorist by the Union Home Ministry in 2020, has also been named in the case, DCP said.
“We traced this incident in just 5 hours, arrested two men and collected their mobile phones, which had all the evidence,” Teja said.
According to DCP Teja, Arshdeep had contacted a US-based person through Snapchat, who subsequently connected him with Pannun.
“Arshdeep talked to the white guy on Snapchat. He then later connected him with Gurpatwant Pannu,” he said.
The DCP said the two arrested men, who are from Amritsar and are around the same age, were allegedly motivated with the promise of money and an opportunity to go abroad. He said one of them is a relative of Pannun while the other is his friend.
“Pannu motivated these two boys to go abroad by tempting them with money,” Teja said.
“Those kids didn’t get any money, nor will they get the chance to go abroad. They’ve been trapped in this crime and will have to suffer the pain of serving a sentence,” he added.
Teja said the alleged intention behind writing the slogans was to disrupt the law and order situation and target the unity and integrity of the country.
The DCP said that the alleged slogans were intended to convey a message.
"They wanted to send a message to the Governor of America and the US Ambassador that India is not India, but Khalistan. The intention is to disrupt the unity and integrity of India,” he said.
Police also recovered the mobile phone allegedly used to record and send a video of the slogans after they were written. The DCP said the accused had been instructed to write the slogans and send a video as proof.
“They had asked them to write it down and send the video to them, and then they would call them out and fulfil the money-related matter,” he said.
The DCP said the recovered mobile phone contained evidence related to the alleged activity and that the video circulating on social media was the same video in which the slogans had been recorded. (ANI)
Punjab: Two arrested in Amritsar over pro-Khalistan slogans, police allege US link
