COURTESY HT FEB 10

Sidhu spent 13 days as fugitive with friends, was active on FB
Prawesh Lama and Karn Pratap Singh

prawesh.lama@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : Farmers protesters at Singhu border never allowed actor-activist Deep Sidhu to speak from the stage because of his “association with the ruling party” and his “extremist views”, said Harinder Happy, a member of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha -- a group of 40 farm unions that is spearheading the agitation against the three farm laws.

But, around 8pm on January 25, Sidhu allegedly hijacked the stage and addressed the people. “He delivered a provocative speech. We asked him to leave the spot immediately. Nobody saw him after that,” Happy said.

Protesters at the Singhu border claim that was the last they saw of Sidhu until he was seen again at the Red Fort during the Republic Day’s tractor parade.

Delhi police are now trying to piece together the sequence of events from that evening to the afternoon of January 26, when Sidhu was seen among those who stormed the Red Fort, vandalised the monument and hoisted two flags —one of the farmers union and another a religious flag.

Police are also probing if someone else was also involved with Sidhu in planning the vandalisation at Red Fort. Police have alleged that the violence during the rally and the events at the Unesco World Heritage site, were not spontaneous acts but were planned as part of a conspiracy.

At least 394 police officials and 10 farmers were injured when protesters deviated from the pre-approved routes of the tractor rally and clashed with police when they were stopped from entering parts of Delhi and Central Delhi.

Police officials, who are privy to the details of Sidhu’s interrogation, said on January 26, as soon as his photographs and videos started circulating in the media, the actor quietly fled to Sonipat, about 20 km away from Singhu border. He was with many friends and supporters, but their numbers thinned as the calls for his arrest grew louder. Police suspect that he borrowed vehicles from his friends as some of the vehicles that Sidhu was using, until January 26, were not spotted by any CCTV camera installed at the toll plaza on the GT Karnal Road.

“For first 24 hours, his phone was on. He was staying at a friend’s place in Sonipat. On January 26, he posted his first Facebook Live, hitting at those who branded him a traitor,” said an investigator associated with the case. At 8pm on January 27, the Delhi police held a press briefing reiterating no person involved in the violence will be spared.

“Within two hours of the media briefing, at around 10pm, Sidhu switched off his cell phone. His last location was Sonipat. Then, he started changing his location,” the first investigating officer added.

After the January 27 press conference, at least 12 teams of the crime branch, special cell, and the local police were conducting raids at multiple locations in Punjab and Haryana to find Sidhu. Police also tapped the phone number of many persons related to Sidhu. A team even visited his wife’s house in Purnea, Bihar. “He was not in Bihar either. We found that during all these days, he visited Chandigarh, Bilaspur (HP), Amritsar, and then Karnal from where he was finally arrested,” said another official.