Khalistan Flags: Key Suspect Arrest By HP Cops From Punjab’s Ropar

| Updated: 11 May, 2022 1:42 pm IST

Yellow flags with Khalistan written on them were found hanging from the iron grills of the entrance gate of the HP Assembly complex on May 8.

SHIMLA: Claiming a breakthrough in the case of hoisting of Khalistani flags at the entrance of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, police on Wednesday arrested a man from Punjab’s Ropar even as another suspect managed to escape.

Five yellow flags with Khalistan written and ‘khanda’ symbol made on them were found hanging from the iron grills of the entrance gate of the Assembly complex at Tapovan in Dharamsala on Sunday morning. ‘Khalistan’ was also written in green colour at two spots on the boundary wall near the main gate.

Harvir Singh (30), a resident of Morinda area of Ropar district of Punjab has been arrested, the police said. Another suspect, Paramjit Singh, fled his residence in Rurhki Heera village in Ropar’s Chamkaur Sahib before a police team could reach the place.

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Harvir was a drug addict and worked as a tipper driver, sources said. Speaking to the media, his mother said he was picked up from their house in Morinda early morning along with some documents.

Harvir and Paramjit have been identified as the key suspects by the Himachal Pradesh police in the case.

With less than six months left for the next Assembly elections, the state government was under pressure from all quarters for an early breakthrough in the case.

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Officials had identified the case as an attempt to damage and deface public property and a case was registered under the Public Property Act, 1985.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had called it a cowardly act and dared the perpetrators to come out in the open. He said those behind the act took advantage of the fact that the Assembly building, meant only for winter session, had less security.

Nevertheless, Thakur said, a thorough investigation would be conducted into the incident and the guilty won’t be spared. “Stop taking advantage of the darkness at night to fulfil your nefarious designs. If you have courage, come out in the open,” he had said in a series of tweets.