Amritpal Singh, a Sikh separatist, was arrested by Indian Police on Sunday after searching for more than a month, a state police official said.
Local media reports that Singh has revived calls for an independent Sikh country and the secession of India’s northern Punjab state, which has a history of violent rebellion.
Amritpal Singh gained national notoriety in February when hundreds of his fans assaulted a police station in the Punjabi town of Ajnala with wooden swords and firearms to demand the release of a detained aide. Amritpal Singh has been on the run since last month.
He was arrested in a Sikh temple in Rode village in Moga district, Punjab
He was arrested in a Sikh temple in Rode village in Moga district, Punjab state of India, following the National Security Act, which allows for the detention of people considered a threat to national security, the police official said.
“Amritpal Singh has been arrested from the Rode village in Moga district, Punjab, based on specific intelligence,” Sukhchain Singh Gill, a top official of the Punjab police, told reporters.
Amritpal Singh, 30, was arrested after the self-styled preacher and hundreds of his followers assaulted a police station with swords and pistols to seek the release of one of his aides. Singh leads a group known as Waris Punjab De (the heirs of Punjab).
Singh has reportedly been on the run since the middle of March, according to the police, who have charged him and his supporters with attempted murder, obstructing law enforcement, and causing discord.
Jasbir Singh Rodde, a Sikh religious leader, said Singh surrendered to police after making morning prayers at a Moga Sikh shrine. According to him, police then arrested him and took him away.
In the 1980s, the Punjab state was the scene of a brutal insurgency that culminated in the killing of India’s then-prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in New Delhi.
Her death triggered bloody rioting by her Hindu supporters against Sikhs in Northern India.
