Kusum Arora 
Jalandhar: Known for his anti-drugs crusade, Khadoor Sahib MP and pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh’s brother Harpreet Singh was on Thursday (July 11) arrested with four grams of ICE (crystal methamphetamine), a stimulant used as recreational drug, by the Jalandhar Rural Police.
The police arrested three people in this case: Harpreet Singh alias Happy from Jallupur Khera village, Lovepreet Singh, a resident of Cheema Bath village and Sandeep Arora, a resident of Haibowal in Ludhiana district, from whom the duo got the drugs supply. Harpreet and Lovepreet’s dope test, conducted on police orders at Phillaur Civil Hospital, also came back positive.
A case under section 22 and 27 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 has been registered against the accused at Phillaur police station. While police investigation was on in the case, Amritpal’s family termed the arrest of their elder son as ‘political vendetta’.
In the recently held Lok Sabha elections 2024, Amritpal, the chief of ‘Waris Punjab De’ scripted history for winning his maiden election with the biggest lead of 1, 78, 022 votes in Punjab.
In his village, in Jallupur Khera in Amritsar, Amritpal is seen as no less than a ‘messiah’ who saved many youngsters from falling prey to drugs. Currently, Amritpal is lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam under National Security Act (NSA). He took oath as an MP on July 5th after being granted bail for four days for the swearing in ceremony.
‘Harpreet Singh was a baptised Sikh but fell prey to drugs in Dubai’: SSP
Addressing a press conference, SSP Rural Jalandhar Ankur Gupta said that the accused duo was arrested during a routine check in Phillaur sub division of Jalandhar. The SSP said that the police noticed a white Creta bearing number PB-02-CX-3808 with tinted glasses (covered with black sheet), on the side of the national highway, and found two youths sitting inside it.
Gupta said, “When the police team checked the car, they found four grams ICE from the possession of Harpreet Singh, a half burnt Rs 20 Indian currency note (used to smoke ICE), a lighter, two mobile phones and another mobile phone from Lovepreet Singh. The police also found a weighing scale from the car. During the investigation, the duo said that they had made an advance payment of Rs 10,000 to Sandeep Arora via Paytm. The police also got their videography done as per the new law (BNS)”, he said.
The SSP also said that Harpreet Singh became a baptised Sikh (Amrit Dhari Sikh) in his childhood. “Harpreet Singh took baptism from Damdami Taksal, the Sikh seminary led by radical Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale. However, when he went to Dubai in the year 2015, he quit baptism and fell prey to drugs. He has been consuming drugs for the last three years. Yesterday too, when Harpreet was arrested, he had gone to Ludhiana district to buy drugs. They stopped their car at an isolated location after crossing Phillaur and consumed drugs but got arrested,” the SSP added.
Government rattled by Amritpal’s clout, indulging in ‘politIcal vendetta’
Tarsem Singh, the father of Amritpal Singh while talking to media said that they (Harpreet) had planned a march for Bandi Singhs, or political prisoners who have completed their jail terms, and must have gone to gather support, when he was arrested. “The Punjab government in an attempt to stop their march, implicated my son in a drug case. But to arrest those who have been stopping drugs and saving lives is nothing short of atrocious. Basically, the anti-Punjab forces are not happy with the rise of Amritpal and Sarabjit Singh Khalsa. They do not want that Amritpal to come out of jail, hence we are being targeted. But we are glad that people are able to understand the nefarious designs of such anti-Punjab forces and they are not going to fall prey to such tactics now.”
The march for Bandi Singhs was planned for July 12.
Talking to The Wire, Amritpal’s paternal uncle Sukhchain Singh said Harpreet’s arrest was a case of ‘political vendetta’. “We never knew that the Punjab government would stoop so low that it would implicate Amritpal’s brother Harpreet Singh in an NDPS case. We are shocked at the developments and yet to meet Harpreet Singh, whose whereabouts are not clear yet. The Punjab government was rattled by the growing clout of Amritpal. Ever since we (Amritpal’s family) announced our decision to contest the upcoming Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections, the government has been trying to target us”, he said.
Sukhchain said that they learnt about Harpreet’s arrest around 9 pm on Thursday night. “Harpreet went for some work yesterday afternoon. We thought that he would be back home by evening. However, we panicked when he did not return home till late evening and his mobile was also switched off. It was around 9 pm that we got to know from some of our sources that he was arrested by Punjab police in some case. We are yet to speak to him and do not even know if he was at Phillaur Police station or taken somewhere else,” he added.
Amritpal’s family media liaison officer Surinderpal Singh Talabpura also told The Wire that the family was apprehending a deep conspiracy behind Harpreet’s arrest in an NDPS Act case. “Harpreet Singh led Amritpal’s election campaign during the recently held Lok Sabha polls 2024. He has been looking after the family’s agricultural work and their trucking business in Dubai. He has never been involved in any police case, hence the news of his arrest in an NDPS Act case was hard to believe. Everybody knows him very well in the region. It is nothing but the handiwork of the Punjab and Union government to defame and target Amritpal”, he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that Amritpal’s anti-drugs crusade remained the biggest factor behind his remarkable maiden victory from Khadoor Sahib seat. When this correspondent visited Khadoor Sahib constituency during elections, nearly every person from young to the elderly, particularly women, were seen lauding him for his anti-drugs campaign.
“We want him to win because Amritpal Singh alone can save Punjab and its youth from drug menace, which has ruined lives and houses of lakhs of people. He will win with a big margin”, the voters had said, predicting his clean sweep, which shocked not just Punjab but the entire nation.