Three years after Punjab’s notorious gangster Jaipal Bhullar was killed in an encounter in Kolkata, police are probing whether MP Amritpal Singh’s organisation had access to the gangster’s money stashed abroad besides Punjab. Amritpal has been detained under the National Security Act (NSA).
Police are probing whether this ‘mystery’ about the gangster’s access to money was the motive behind the killing of Gurpreet Singh Hari Nau of Faridkot in October last year. Police are also probing whether Jaipal’s hidden money was used to pay off the shooters and their leader Arsh Dalla in return for Gurpreet’s killing. According to police, Arsh Dalla is a Khalistani pro-Khalistan gangster. Amritpal Singh was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on January 9 in a murder case. Gurpreet, who was the one-time treasurer of the Amritpal Singh-led outfit ‘Waris Punjab De’, later had a falling out with Amritpal Singh and became a critic of him. Jaipal, one of the most dangerous gangsters in Punjab, was wanted in criminal cases in several states. He was active from 2008 until his death in June 2021. He was associated with several criminal networks and had close links with other gangsters including Shera Khubban and Rajiv Raja. Over time, he formed his own gang, which carried out crimes like the murder of gangster-politician Jaswinder Singh Rocky and the killing of two assistant sub-inspectors in Jagraon. Jaipal was killed in an encounter with the West Bengal Police in Kolkata in June 2021. However, the police busted his gang but there was no trace of the lakhs of rupees or even crores of rupees that some suspects say he had collected through extortion. Police sources said that Amritpal’s alleged access to Jaipal’s hidden money has come to light during the investigation into the Gurpreet case. Gurpreet was shot dead on October 9, 2024, while returning home from a village gurdwara in Faridkot. The police have been tight-lipped about the investigation. Several police officials have confirmed that the investigation revealed links between Amritpal and Jaipal and his money but refused to divulge further details. Amritpal’s uncle and former Punjab Police inspector Sukhchain Singh said that the MP was not questioned about his links with Jaipal. “We have not been informed about this,” he said.
It seems that the police have fabricated another story to keep Amritpal in custody.” Amritpal’s two-year custody under the NSA is ending on April 23. He was initially sent to one-year custody in April 2023, which was extended to two years over time. The opinion of Amritpal Singh’s supporters is that the Punjab government does not want to release Bhai Amritpal Singh, but wants to implicate him in more false cases.
