Sources suggest that the spotlight on Amritpal Singh’s British wife, Kirandeep Kaur, may have led to his arrest, as he was concerned that if he tried to flee the country, she would also be detained and held responsible for his escape.
Separatist Amritpal Singh — arrested today after being on the run for more than a month — had not been able to flee India as he thought the police would then move in to arrest his wife. Top sources in Punjab government said Singh’s wife Kirandeep Kaur, a UK national currently in India, was placed under surveillance by the Punjab police since he went underground in March as a crackdown was started against him.
Kirandeep Kaur came to India a week before her wedding in February. Her visa expires in July. She was recently stopped at the Amritsar airport while trying to board a flight to London. She was also questioned last month along with Amritpal Singh’s mother in Amritsar’s Jallupur Khera village.
Sources said Amritpal Singh wanted his wife to get safely out of the country first. He was apprehensive that if he skipped the country, she would be arrested and blamed for his escape.
Since coming under the police radar after his supporters stormed a police station on March 6 to free one of their own, Amritpal Singh has been criss-crossing four states to evade police net. Between Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, he was continuously on the move, never staying at any place for more than a few days.
From Punjab’s Jalandhar, he escaped to Ludhiana, then to Haryana’s Kurukhshetra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit, Uttarakhand’s Rudrapur, then onto Punjab’s Hoshiyarpur, Jalandhar to Moga.
ISI gave Amritpal Singh Bhindranwale training in Georgia before arriving in India in September 2022.