The Delhi Police on Wednesday announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for information that can lead to the arrest of Deep Sidhu, Jugraj Singh, Gurjot Singh, and Gurjant Singh in connection with the Republic Day violence in Delhi.
The police have also announced a reward of Rs 50,000 each for the arrest of Jajbir Singh, Buta Singh, Sukhdev Singh, and Iqbal Singh for their alleged involvement in the 26 January violence.
Sidhu, a Punjabi actor-turned-activist, had earlier uploaded a video on his verified Facebook account even as teams of the Delhi Police were conducting raids in Punjab to track him down. In the video, he is seen talking in Punjabi and saying he has not done anything wrong.
In a 15 minute-long video message on 31 January, titled ‘straight from my soul’ on his verified Facebook page, he is seen giving an emotional statement: “Despite leaving my whole life behind, I came to join the Punjabis in their protest … nobody saw anything but I was labelled a traitor.
“All I did was raise a voice for your rights. For so many months, I’ve been meeting everyone on roads, in tents. Now a single man is being made a traitor,” he can be heard saying. Within two hours of uploading it, it was viewed 19,000 times and received 11,000 comments.
Thousands of protesting farmers had clashed with the police during the tractor parade called by farmer unions on 26 January to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws.
Many of the protesters, driving tractors, had reached the Red Fort and entered the monument. Some protesters had even hoisted religious flags on its domes and a flagstaff on the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.
Farmers have been protesting at the different borders of the national capital since 26 November against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Source: Free Press Journal
