New Delhi: Fugitive Amritpal posts video

New Delhi: Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who has managed to evade a massive manhunt by the police for 12 days, on Wednesday released a video, confirming that he remains at large. The video has been sourced through a foreign country, said sources, adding it appears to be two days old. UK handles have distributed Amritpal's video, said sources.The video emerged as sources in the police claimed Amritpal Singh has returned to Punjab and plans to surrender. The self-styled preacher, who supports a call for a separate homeland for Sikhs and is wanted for an armed raid on a police station last month, was said to be travelling to Amritsar through the villages of Hoshiarpur when the Punjab Police was tipped off about his presence in the area, sources said.

On Tuesday night, the police launched a massive door-to-door search operation in Hoshiarpur and neighbouring villages to catch him and his associates, who are accused in several criminal cases. However, Amritpal Singh appeared to have escaped, ditching an Innova car at a gurdwara in the Maraiyan village of Hoshiarpur and fleeing into the fields. The police later recovered the car. A cordon and search operation was launched in and around the village, while checkposts and barricades were raised on the roads to catch the suspects. Sources said that Amritpal Singh was planning to give an interview to an international news agency before surrendering, but changed his mind after realising that he had no chance of escaping.