2 men who helped Amritpal escape detained, say police

Punjab Police on Friday detained two people who allegedly accompanied radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh when he escaped a police operation two weeks ago, and expanded its efforts to nab him.

- Ravinder Vasudeva

The developments came days after the Waris Punjab De chief was spotted by a police party of Counter Intelligence Wing in Hoshiarpur on Tuesday evening.

Singh has since released one video and an audio clip - both on social media and neither authenticated or dated - where he called on the Sikh clergy to call a holy conclave or Sarbat Khalsa to protest the police crackdown, and said he had no plans to surrender.

Police identified the two arrested men as Joga Singh of Sahnewal town of Ludhiana district and Charanjit Singh.

A police officer involved in the probe said that Charanjit Singh was driving the Innova car used by Singh when he re-entered Punjab. "Most probably they entered the same day. We are probing who assisted them to enter Punjab and from where they entered," said the officer.