The Himachal Pradesh Police on Wednesday claimed to have cracked the case of putting up ‘Khalistan’ flags on the main gate and boundary walls of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly premises at Dharamsala, by arresting one of the accused, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said.
“The State Police have made a major breakthrough in the Dharamsala State Assembly episode by apprehending one accused [person] from the neighbouring State of Punjab this morning [Wednesday]. The State Police, in this process, has followed the ‘rule of law’ and ‘due process’ and got the ‘search and arrest warrant’ from the competent court in Dharamshala,” Mr. Thakur said in New Delhi.
Mr. Thakur said the arrested person had been identified as Harvir Singh and the accused had confessed to having put up the ‘Khalistani flag’ and graffiti on the outer wall of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha complex at Dharamshala in Kangra district.
Mr. Thakur said that the search for the second accused person, Vaneet Singh, was being undertaken jointly by the Himachal Pradesh Police and Punjab Police, and that he would also be arrested soon.
On Sunday, a few ‘Khalistan’ flags were hung on the main gate and boundary walls of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly premises, after which the police booked Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannu under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The SFJ was banned by the Central government in 2019 for anti-India activities.
