How Amritpal Singh came to limelight? A timeline of his journey

Radical preacher Amritpal Singh was arrested from Punjab's Moga district on Sunday, police said.

"The Punjab Police have arrested him," a senior police official told PTI. Police further said he would be sent to Assam's Dibrugarh jail. "He is an NSA subject and will be taken to Dibrugarh," said the officer.

How Amritpal Singh came to the limelight? A timeline

September 2021: Deep Sidhu creates 'Waris Punjab De', as "a pressure group to protect and fight for rights of Punjab and raise social issues."

15 February 2022: Deep Sidhu is killed in a road accident.

July 4, 2022: As per Deep Sidhu's deep desire, his brother Mandeep creates an organisation in Fathehgarh Sahib to promote 'Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan'. It was started to spread awareness about pollution-related issues, draw drug-addicted youths towards sports, and aid people during natural disasters, among other goals.

August 2022: Amritpal returns from Dubai and demands the papers of 'Waris Punjab De', but Mandeep refuses to hand them over. The actor's family refuse to acknowledge Amritpal as the heir to Deep's ideology and said the actor had blocked his number before his tragic road accident.

To cash in on 'Waris Punjab De', Amritpal Singh creates a new organisation called 'Warris Panj-Aab De' surfaced, with Deep Sidhu's official Facebook page linked to it. It was registered in Moga district, with its inception date set being mentioned as December 15, 2021.

February 16, 2023: The Punjab cops registers an FIR against Amritpal Singh, his close aides Lovepreet Toofan, Bikramjit Singh, Pappalpreet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Fauji Rode and 20 unknown persons in connection with a kidnapping and assault case.

It was booked under Sections 365 (Kidnapping), 379-B (2) (causing hurt while committing snatching), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code was registered at Ajnala police station.

February 18, 2023: The police arrest Lovepreet Singh alias Toofan.

February 23, 2023: Lovepreet's arrest angers Amritpal Singh and he accuses the cops of falsely implicating him as there is no evidence against them. So, Singh and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, break through barricades and barge into the Ajnala Police Station demanding the release of Lovepreet.

The Punjab Police says that the demonstrators used the holy Guru Granth Sahib as a shield and attacked police personnel in a cowardly manner, leaving six of them injured.

February 24, 2023: Toofan released from the judicial custody. However, an FIR was registered against the elements of Waris Punjab De over the incident Ajnala incident.

March 2, 2023: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann meets Union Home Minister Amit Shah and explains about the circumstances leading to the Ajnala incident. He says in a tweet that the Punjab and Centre will work together on the issue of law and order issue.

March 18, 2023: As the G-20 meeting concludes in Amritsar, the Punjab cops launch a statewide crackdown against Amritpal Singh and members of 'Waris Punjab De'. However, the radical preacher gave the police a slip and escaped their dragnet when his cavalcade was intercepted in the Jalandhar district.

March 20, 2023: The radical preacher's uncle Harjit Singh, and his driver surrender before the cops in Shahkot of Jalandhar.

April 10, 2023: 38-year-old Papalpreet Singh, the man behind Amritpal Singh's escape from the police dragnet, arrested.

April 23, 2023: Amritpal Singh arrested in Moga.