Flying Amritpal's aides to Dibrugarh a joint exercise: Assam CM

Guwahati/New Delhi, March 19 (IANS) Four aides of absconding self-styled radical Sikh preacher and head of 'Waris Punjab De', Amritpal Singh, have been brought to Assam's Dibrugarh on Sunday, where they have been lodged in the central jail.

Assam police are keeping a tight leash on the development, and have not issued any statement in this regard yet.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while interacting with mediapersons in the national capital, said, "It is an exercise being carried out by the police forces of Assam and Punjab. Once when there was a crisis in Assam, we had sent a few arrested persons to Bhagalpur in Bihar. So I think it is absolutely normal, and I should not comment anything more on this."

Top police officers in Assam dodged all media questions on Sunday. When IANS tried to contact Assam DGP G.P. Singh and other senior police officers, all calls and text messages went unanswered.

A top police source said that due to security reasons, Amritpal Singh's four aides have been flown to Dibrugarh jail, and some more arrested members of the Sikh radical preacher's team may be brought there in the next couple of days.

Security has been beefed up in the Dibrugarh central jail. A large number of police personnel have been deployed outside the jail premise as well.