Tejinder Singh aka Gorkha Baba, a notorious associate and former gunman of fugitive Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police on Thursday, officials said.

A report quoted DSP Payal Harsimrat Singh of the Punjab Police as saying that Tejinder Singh, a resident of Punjab’s Mangewal village, was nabbed by the Khanna police.

DSP Harsimrat said Tejinder, who was a gunman for Amritpal Singh for a long period and often lived with the Waris Punjab De chief, is also involved in the Ajnala case. The officer said that Tejinder, also known as Gorkha Baba, was very active on social media and often posts pictures of himself brandishing different weapons due to which he’s wanted in a separate case registered against him at Malaud police station.

The official further said that Tejinder has been booked under sections 107/151 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and two other aides who accompanied him, have also been taken into custody and are being questioned.

She said that Tejinder had several cases, including liquor smuggling and assault, registered against him prior to this and he had already served time for those.

Earlier in the day, seven aides of Amritpal Singh brought to Amritsar’s Baba Bakala court amid heavy police presence where they were remanded to police custody till tomorrow.

In a statement, Senior Superintendent of Police Rural Amritsar Zone, Satinder Singh said the seven accused were nabbed along with six illegal 12-bore weapons and were booked under the Arms Act along with their leader Amritpal Singh, who is still at large.

Earlier today, the Punjab Police said that Amritpal Singh—the notorious pro-Khalistani separatist leader—changed five vehicles in 12 hours to stay a step ahead of law enforcement agencies and evade arrest.

Last month, Amritpal Singh and his supporters armed with swords and guns, stormed a police station in Ajnala on the outskirts of Amritsar city and clashed with police for the release of one of his aides Lovepreet Singh.

Rahul Gandhi is finding himself in the eye of the news cycle storm after a Gujarat court convicted him of defamation for his 2019 remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi faces up to 2 years in jail for taking the Prime Minister’s name along with IPL founder Lalit Modi and fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and wondering if all Modis are thieves. The complaint against Gandhi was filed by BJP leader Purnesh Ishvarbhai Modi at Adajan police station in Surat district.

While convicting Gandhi, Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma granted him bail for 30 days for him to file his appeal, which would be in a higher court.

It is a coincidence that if Rahul Gandhi had not ripped up a Manmohan Singh government ordinance to protect legislators (MPs/MLAs/MLCs) convicted of criminal offences from disqualification, he could have escaped this Surat court judgment unscathed. But since the ordinance was withdrawn by the Manmohan Singh government, a legal protection that could have saved him and others can be looked upon wistfully.

The United Progressive Alliance-II regime had been at the receiving end of Opposition assaults over perceived corruption scams including 2G, coalgate and the railway cases, implicating ministers of allies Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Rashtriya Janata Dal among others.

The general perception of those years was that the allies were responsible for the falling goodwill of the Congress minority government. Though multiple parties including the Aam Aadmi Party went on the offensive, the biggest gainer from the hit on the Congress was the BJP.

Possibly, the UPA bigwigs could read among the tea leaves what lay ahead of them. Rahul Gandhi’s trashing other ordinance happened in the first few weeks of September 2013 when then PM Singh was away in the United States. The highlight of the next week was Narendra Modi being chosen as the BJP’s PM candidate above veteran leader LK Advani. What happened hence is well-known.

The Rahul Gandhi-led march, the Bharat Jodo Yatra, had won some eyeballs at the man’s ability to pull off the march with relative elan. Following the Hindenburg Research report on Adani, the Congress had shown some verve and fight in a marked departure from the grand old party dismissal.

A remark from spokesperson Pawan Khera on Modi saw Delhi Police armed police haul him off a flight at Delhi airport in connection with three FIRs against Khera, one in Assam and two in Uttar Pradesh.

Observers had been upbeat on the Congress’s chances despite the “Aayega Modi hi” slogan and potential allies talking of a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance. The Surat court decision could spark greater opposition coherence since Arvind Kejriwal himself came out in support of Gandhi.

Around 15 people were injured after a speeding roadways bus hit a Mercedes car on Thursday. The mishap happened near the Galgotia underpass on the Greater Noida Expressway at around 1:15 pm.

The bus driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle as it approached the Galgotia underpass and hit the Mercedes car.

The officials said that the collision was so severe that the Mercedes fell from the underpass. Fortunately, the car’s driver escaped major injuries since there was mud where the vehicle fell.

Additional DCP Greater Noida Ashok Kumar said the bus was coming from Noida and was en route to Greater Noida Parichowk. Around 15 passengers on the bus were injured in the accident, he said. The injured were immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Read Also: Rahul Gandhi wouldn’t need to fear disqualification if he had not done this

Soon after, a huge crowd gathered at the spot of the accident. The police also reached the spot as soon as they received the information.

According to the reports, the flow of traffic was hampered for a while. Nonetheless, within 10 to 15 minutes, traffic started smoothly.

The police have detained the driver of the bus and are interrogating him and will take further action after the investigation.

Earlier in the day, a doctor couple was killed after their car was hit by a truck in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district. The incident took place near Shebal village on Warora-Wani road on Wednesday afternoon.

Ashwini died on the spot, while Atul succumbed to injuries when he was being rushed to a nearby hospital, said reports.

Rahul Gandhi and the misfortune of attracting defamation suits

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal supports Rahul Gandhi in defamation case, alleges BJP conspiracy to finish opposition