Two days after Punjab's Patiala clash, police arrests ‘key conspirator’

|HT|

Two days after Punjab's Patiala district saw clashes and then curbs, Barjinder Singh Parwana, the head of Sikh group Damdami Taksal Rajpura, was arrested on Sunday. He is said to be the “key conspirator” in the case. Parwana has been accused of inciting militancy on social media in the past. A disciple of Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal, Pawana has also been known for his comments on the tough anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and 1984 riots in the past. “Parwana is a self-styled Sikh leader, who makes expletive speeches on social media to garner support,” inspector general of police, Mukhwinder Singh Chinna, said on Saturday.

Till Saturday, police had said that three people had been arrested over the violence, including Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) leader Harish Singla, held a day before. He had led the “anti-Khalistan” protest, believed to be at the heart of the violence. Singla was the head of the Punjab unit of the outfit, which is not linked to Shiv Sena. He, however, says he is influenced by Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. Clashes broke out when the rally was headed to the Kali Devi temple in Patiala on Friday. This is the first time the state saw violence of this scale after Bhagwant Mann took over as the chief minister in May. The ruling AAP has come under criticism from the opposition over the incident.

Mann on Saturday said that the situation in the district was peaceful. Soon after clashes broke out on Friday, a curfew was announced till Saturday morning.

Later, mobile internet was suspended for several hours on Saturday amid a tight security deployment.

In another step to signify that accountability was being pinned, three cops were also transferred after Mann’s orders.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)