NEW DELHI, Feb 9: The absconding Punjabi actor-singer Deep Sidhu, who was named the prime accused in the Republic Day violence in Delhi during the farmers’ tractor rally, has been arrested by the Delhi police special cell.
The police, however, did not give any other detail about his arrest, whether he was arrested in Delhi or outside the national capital and how the police zeroed in on him who was on the run since the violence and he was named by the police to have led the unruly mob to the iconic Red Fort where they also hoisted a religious flag causing deep distress all over the country.
Reports suggest that he was found through his social media uploads as he was using his California-based friend for updates.
The police had unsuccessfully carried out several raids during the last few days in Delhi and Punjab in suspicion of his hiding there. But the Punjab police on Tuesday said it was highly unlikely that he was arrested anywhere in Punjab though the Delhi police did not keep the Punjab police in the loop on his arrest.
A Punjab Police spokesperson in Chandigarh while declining to confirm if Deep Sidhu was arrested from Zirakpur or from any part of the state said, “Punjab Police were not in the loop regarding this operation. We have no information from where he was arrested.”
Sidhu, who had campaigned in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for Bollywood actor and BJP candidate Sunny Deol was found instigating the crowd during the tractor rally and violence at Red Fort, said the police. Several farmers’ leaders had also named Sidhu to be behind the violence having openly defied the directions of the tractor rally organisers to keep the protest demonstration peaceful and follow the route agreed upon with the Delhi police.
After the tractor rally on January 26, there was a massive outrage over protesters hoisting a religious flag at the Red Fort. Sidhu, who was present during the incident, sought to defend their action, saying they did not remove the national flag and had put up the ‘Nishan Sahib’ as a symbolic protest.
The 36-year-old uploaded two videos on his Facebook page claiming that people “on their own” marched towards the Red Fort from all the Delhi borders on January 26. He said not many people took the route decided by farmer leaders who are “arrogant” and “want whatever decisions they take should be accepted by all.” He had also threatened to “expose” the farm leaders about their alleged “devastation plans” but so far has not uploaded any such video.
Sidhu and his brother Mandeep Singh were among those summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) earlier this month in connection with a case filed against the Sikhs for Justice allegedly floated by separatist elements.
After registering an FIR in connection with the violence at Red Fort, Delhi Police had announced cash rewards of Rs 1 lakh each leading to the arrests of Deep Sidhu and three others.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the arrest of senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and several journalists including Rajdeep Sardesai and others in cases lodged over their alleged “misleading” tweets in connection with the Republic Day tractor rally and the subsequent violence and also issued notices to the Delhi police and the Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana governments.
Tharoor and Sardesai had last week approached the Supreme Court after FIRs were filed in five states against them and five other journalists.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notices and sought responses from the Centre and others on the petitions filed by Tharoor, Sardesai and journalists Mrinal Pande, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath, Vinod K Jose and Anant Nath.
When the bench said it was issuing notice in the matter, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for Tharoor, said no coercive action be taken against the petitioners in the meantime.
“Nothing is going to happen. Where is the danger,” said the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
“We will hear you after two weeks and stay the arrest in the meanwhile,” the bench said.
Cases have been registered in New Delhi besides at Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Noida while four similar cases were also filed in different districts in Madhya Pradesh. The cases named Tharoor and journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, Mrinal Pande, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath, Anant Nath, and Vinod K Jose. Most of them invoke IPC sections of sedition, criminal intimidation, promoting enmity, the provocation to break public peace, criminal conspiracy, outraging religious feelings, among others.
The FIR in Delhi was lodged on a complaint of advocate Chiranjiv Kumar, a Central government lawyer at Delhi High Court.
The complainant stated that the accused spread fake news about protester Navreet Singh’s death in Delhi on January 26 by blaming Delhi Police to “instigate violence”. Navreet Singh died of head injuries when his tractor toppled after hitting a police barricade. The post mortem ruled out any bullet injuries.
(Manas Dasgupta)