Family members meet arrested Waris de Punjab activists in Assam's Dibrugarh

Ten family members of arrested Waris de Punjab' activists, including its chief Amritpal Singh, arrived here on Thursday and visited the Dibrugarh Central Jail to meet them, an official said.

They made their way to the northeastern state after the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed one family member of the arrested to meet them.

An executive member of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and legal counsel Bhagwant Singh Siyalka, and another lawyer Simranjeet Singh also accompanied the family members.

Singh later told reporters that the arrested persons have been booked under the National Security Act (NSA), with the same allegations against all of them.

He said even the annexures attached to their cases are the same and this seems to be ''improbable''.

"There is no criminal background of those arrested. It is definitely a conspiracy as there is no reason for them to be booked under the NSA. Amritpal was campaigning against drug abuse and was also engaged in preaching the tenets of Sikhism.

''We have appealed in the high court to quash the charges under the NSA against them and the next date of hearing has been fixed for May 1', Singh said.