Republic Day violence accused and Punjabi actor-singer Deep Sidhu was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell from the Zirakpur area between Chandigarh and Ambala on Tuesday morning at 10:40 am.
A court in Delhi sent Sidhu, who is accused of instigating a faction of protesting farmers to storm the Red Fort, to seven-day police custody. As per a report by India Today,?Delhi Police claim?Deep Sidhu went to the Singhu border protest site after exiting the Red Fort.?
He then spent the night at a five-star hotel where he met many people. A probe is underway to identify these people who met Sidhu on the night of the incident, investigators said.
According to officials, Deep Sidhu fled to Punjab the very next day on January 27, where he was met by his supporters. Since he is a well know Punjabi actor, Sidhu was granted shelter at a number of places. Throughout the time that he was absconding, Deep Sidhu was hiding in areas along the Punjab-Haryana border.??
Police have said that he had been wearing the same clothes for the past five days and did not communicate with his friends owing to the fear that his location may be traced.
Further, police say sources suggested that the Punjabi actor's videos were uploaded on his Facebook handle via US mobile number. The US number that was being used for uploading Deep Sidhu's video has been registered under the name of a Punjabi actor, Reena Rai, who happens to be a close friend to the Punjabi actor-singer.?
While on the run, Deep Sidhu used to send his videos to Reena Rai via Telegram and in an attempt to dodge the Delhi Police who had been conducting extensive raids to arrest him, Deep Sidhu had sent his wife to Bihar. Due to this, the Police investigated multiple locations in Bihar before, and finally, the trail led to his arrest in Zirakpur on Tuesday morning.
However, the actor's acquaintances retracted their support when authorities declared a reward of Rs 1 lakh in exchange for any information that might lead to his arrest.??
The Delhi Police had originally sought 10-day police custody of Sidhu, who is the prime accused in the seize of the Red Fort which occurred on Republic Day.?
During the proceedings, Deep Sidhu's counsel had opposed Delhi Police's plea seeking his police custody saying that he was merely "at the wrong place at the wrong time."?
However, with the Delhi Police presenting a strong case against the accused, who had been absconding since the January 26 violence evading multiple summonses, the Delhi Court decided to remand him to 7-day police custody.