File photo of radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh
Credit: PTI Photo
Dibrugarh: Family members of radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh on Thursday visited him at the Dibrugarh jail in Assam, a day after his counsel claimed that he would contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Khadoor Sahib seat in Punjab.
Amritpal Singh's father Tarsem Singh, uncle Sukhchain Singh, wife Kirandeep Kaur and other relatives reached Dibrugarh in the morning, officials said.
Later in the day, some of them visited the Dibrugarh Central Jail to meet him.
They were subjected to a thorough security check at the gate, with the assistant jailor Nayan Jyoti Dutta also going through the documents they were carrying, officials said.
Amritpal Singh, chief of the 'Waris Punjab De' outfit, was arrested in April last year and the stringent NSA was invoked against him. He along with nine of his associates is currently lodged in Dibrugarh jail.
Amarjit Singh, the father of one of the associates Papal Preet Singh, also accompanied Amritpal Singh's family on the trip.
Amritpal Singh's legal counsel Rajdev Singh Khalsa had met the preacher in Dibrugarh jail on Wednesday and requested him to contest the polls.
"I met 'bhai sahab' (Amritpal Singh) in Dibrugarh central jail and during the meeting, I requested bhai sahab that in the interests of 'Khalsa Panth', he should fight elections this time from Khadoor Sahib to become a member of parliament. Bhai sahab accepted my request in the Panthic interests... He will fight as an Independent candidate," Khalsa had claimed.
Amritpal Singh, who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Moga's Rode village on April 23 last year following a more than one-month-long manhunt.