Five days before the Sarbat Khalsa, the Punjab Police today arrested Bhai Resham Singh, president of the European unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. Bhai Resham Singh, who reached India to take part in the Sikh congregation to be held at Talwandi Sabo (Bathinda) on November 10, has been booked on the charge of sedition.
The police also conducted raids across the state in the wee hours today at the houses of other Sikh leaders, said Gopal Singh Sidhu, general secretary of the Simranjit Singh Mann-led SAD (Amritsar).
Sidhu, along with Mann and others, today filed writ petitions in various courts, seeking anticipatory bail. Mann also filed a petition accusing the government of trying to scuttle the ‘Sarbat Khalsa’.
ADGP (Intelligence) Gaurav Yadav said, “Resham Singh was booked for sedition last year when he attended the ‘Sarbat Khalsa’. He had left the country before the case was registered. A lookout notice was issued against him and several others at various airports. The arrest was made as per the legal procedure.” Yadav denied that raids were conducted at the houses of ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ organisers.
Sidhu alleged that the state government was not giving them permission to hold the congregation. “We are taking private land on lease for the purpose,” he claimed.
He, along with representatives of other splinter Akali and panthic groups, met DGP Suresh Arora yesterday. “We gave an undertaking that we would be responsible for maintaining law and order during the event. However, the police are still conducting raids to arrest us,” he added.