KHALISTAN supporter and separatist Amritpal Singh -- arrested on Sunday after being on the run for more than a month -- had not been able to flee India as he thought the police would then move in to arrest his wife. Top sources in Punjab Government said Singh’s wife Kirandeep Kaur, a UK national currently in India, was placed under surveillance by the Punjab police since Amritpal Singh went underground in March as a crackdown was started against him.

Kirandeep has been living in India and her visa expires in July. She was recently stopped at the Amritsar airport while trying to board a flight to London. Kirandeep Kaur came to India a week before her wedding in February. She was also questioned last month along with Amritpal Singh’s mother in Amritsar’s Jallupur Khera village.

Amritpal Singh wanted his wife to get safely out of the country first. He was apprehensive that if he skipped the country, she would be arrested and blamed for his escape, sources said. Since coming under radar after his supporters stormed a police station on March 6 to free one of their own, Amritpal Singh has been criss-crossing four States to evade police net. Between Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, he was been continuously on the move, never staying at any place for more than a few days.

From Punjab’s Jalandhar, he escaped to Ludhiana, then to Haryana’s Kurukhshetra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit, Uttarakhand’s Rudrapur, then onto Punjab’s Hoshiyarpur, Jalandhar to Moga. Amritpal Singh was arrested this morning following an overnight operation, during which the Punjab Police cordoned off Rode village in Moga district, where he has been holed in since Friday. Sources said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was personally monitoring the operation. Around 4 am, he was informed that the village was completely sealed and no escape route was left.

Mr Mann had given strict instructions that the Gurudwara, where Amritpal Singh was hiding, not be stormed. Following his instructions, only two or three police officers were sent to make the arrest. Sources said Amritpal Singh routed funds for his operations through his wife and parked them in the UK. She married Amritpal Singh on February 11, days before his “Waris Punjab De” supporters attacked the Ajnala Police Station to free his aide Toofan Singh.