Bhagwant Mann promises strict action as search for Amritpal Singh continues

Internet services remained restricted in parts of the northern state of Punjab for a fourth day as authorities continued their search for Sikh separatist leader Amritpal Singh.

Several of Singh’s supporters have been arrested after authorities launched a crackdown against him on Saturday.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann promised strict action against those spreading “anti-national sentiments” in Punjab.

But Singh’s whereabouts remained unclear.

On Tuesday, a local court questioned the state government how Singh had managed to escape from police custody in the first place.

The bench was hearing a plea filled by the legal advisor of Singh’s organisation Waris Punjab De – or the heirs of Punjab – alleging that Singh had been illegally and forcibly detained by the police, and seeking his release.

“You have 80,000 police personnel. How has he not been arrested? This is an intelligence failure,” the court said, as it asked the government to submit a report on the search operation within four days.

Punjab police declared Singh “a fugitive” on Saturday after he escaped in a dramatic car chase which was live-streamed by some of his associates.

Since then authorities have blocked internet services, restricted messages and deployed thousands of paramilitary solders to Punjab as they began a state-wide search.

Six of Singh’s associates and an uncle have been arrested and charged under India’s stringent National Security Act (NSA) – four of them were sent to a prison in the north-eastern state of Assam on Monday.

On Tuesday, the state government said it had partially lifted the internet ban while retaining it in a few places till March 23.

A self-styled preacher, Singh says he supports supports Khalistan, or a separate Sikh homeland. His rapid rise and incendiary views have revived memories of a 1980s insurgency in Punjab in which thousands died.

He claims to draw inspiration from Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a preacher accused by the Indian government of leading an armed insurgency for Khalistan. Bhindranwale was killed in the Indian army’s storming of the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion, in 1984.

The crackdown against Singh comes weeks after his supporters stormed a police station, demanding the release of an aide who had been arrested.

On Monday, pro-Khalistan supporters vandalised the Indian consulate in San Francisco, calling for Singh to be freed.

A similar protest took place at the Indian High Commission in London on Sunday where a man detached the Indian flag from the first-floor balcony of the building.

Meanwhile, Punjab’s chief minister Mr Mann said that all those who have been making “hateful speeches” in the state for the past few months “have been caught”. He, however, did not specify who and how many people had been detained or arrested.

BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.