Chandigarh, March 19 (IANS) Punjab Police on Sunday continued its crackdown against ‘Waris Punjab De’ elements wanted on criminal charges, and also made preventive arrests of persons attempting to disturb peace and law and order in the state.
An official spokesperson for the Punjab Police said that Amritpal Singh, the self-styled radical Sikh preacher and head of Waris Punjab De, remains a fugitive and efforts are on to arrest him.
Flag marches have been conducted by district police and paramilitary forces led by Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) and Commissioners of Police (CPs) all over the state, he said, adding that peace committee meetings have also been held in all the districts and there is complete peace and harmony in the state at present.
During the ongoing operations against the Waris Punjab De elements and persons attempting to disturb peace and harmony in the state, another 34 arrests were made from across Punjab on Sunday, taking the total number of people arrested in this connection since Saturday to 112.
The spokesperson said that during the ongoing search operations, an abandoned ISUZU vehicle has been recovered from Salina village in Jalandhar district.
The vehicle was used by Amritpal while the police were chasing him on Saturday. A .315 bore rifle along with 57 cartridges, a sword and a wireless set have been recovered from the abandoned vehicle, he said, adding that the vehicle is owned by Manpreet Singh from Anokharwal village in SBS Nagar, who has been arrested.
The spokesperson added that strict action as per the law will be taken if anyone is found spreading fake news, rumours or hate speech.
All citizens, mediapersons and social media platform intermediaries are requested to act in a responsible manner and to fact-check the authenticity of the content being shared by them on various social media, electronic media and print media platforms, he added.
All mischievous elements attempting to disrupt peace and harmony in the state shall be dealt with strictly, the spokesperson added.
–IANS
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