Granthi Ranjit Singh reached Police to file an FIR on Wednesday stating that he was forced to serve Amritpal and his aides food and clothes at gunpoint. It all happened when someone was about to come to his place for a matrimonial purpose. The food that Amritpal and his aides ate was actually cooked for guests.
On Saturday 18 March afternoon, when the police and central forces were chasing pro-Khalistan activist Amritpal Singh, he was sitting in the house of Nangal Ambian gurdwara granthi Ranjit Singh in Shahkot. He remained there for more than an hour. The house in the gurdwara complex, where Amritpal and his four followers relaxed and had food, was just about 10 km away from Bulandpuri gurdwara where a heavy police force remained deployed following the incident. They were carrying a pistol and .315 bore rifle, said Ranjit Singh.
In a dark pink turban, peach-coloured shirt, trousers and sunglasses, Amritpal fled the place riding pillion on a bike belonging to the granthi’s son Jatinder Singh. A large black and white jacket, which Amritpal wore, belonged to Ranjit.
“Without seeking our permission on gun point, they started picking Jatinder’s clothes from his cupboard. They even removed their blue and saffron turbans and wore the common turbans of my son. They asked me if I had food ready to be served. We had enough food prepared for some guests coming at our place for the matrimonial purposes of my son. Soon, some youths came on bikes and they (Amritpal and others) left with them. The Brezza car, in which they had come, was taken away by another local youth,” said Narinder Kaur, wife of Ranjit Singh. Narinder Kaur said she and her family were unaware of any police chase until 4:30 pm. “They left our place around 1:45 pm and we got engaged in household chores. The Internet was not working. It was later when we switched on the TV set that we got to know what was going on. Till this morning, we were quietly sitting in our house, not talking to anyone about what had happened. We got so scared that if we would share anything with anyone or even the police, Amritpal and his men, who could be hiding somewhere near our house, could return and take revenge for sharing this information.” When finally the police got to know of this, they came to the gurdwara. “We have shared everything with the police. They have taken my father to the police station for recording his statement,” said Jatinder Singh.
