Key conspirator of Jan 26 violence, Lakha Sidhana in his latest video gave an open challenge to the Delhi Police. Stating that he along with his supporters will move from Masutana gurudwara in Punjab's Sangrur to Delhi on April 10, Lakha Sidhana challenged the Delhi Police to do whatever it can in its powers to arrest him. It is important to mention here that earlier Lakha had addressed a public rally in Punjab's Bhatinda and currently has a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on his head Who is Lakha Sidhana? The alleged Republic day violence instigator Sidhana has been absconding since the Red Fort riot ensued and has posted several videos on social media urging the farmers to intensify their agitation against the farm laws. During the rally in Bhatinda, Sidhana addressed a huge rally for over 10 minutes but also managed to escape on a motorbike under the nose of the Punjab Police. Earlier, in his one of the videos shared on Facebook, Lakha Sidhana had thanked the organisers of the rally in Mehraj village and asked farmer leaders to hold a programme at the Delhi borders in the coming days. He had further urged the youth to join the protest sites in large numbers. “I want to tell the farmer unions that we are with you. Give us a programme...the government is targeting farmers and has launched a crackdown by sending notices, releasing photographs. If we do not react, the police and the government will continue to harass us,” Sidhana had said. Republic Day violence The Delhi Police had permitted farmers to take out the tractor rally on three routes emanating from the Singhu border, the Tikri border, and the Ghazipur border on Republic Day. The Police mandated that a maximum of 5,000 persons with 5,000 tractors can participate in the rally from noon to 5 pm. However, the rally took a violent turn after groups of farmers broke police barricades at the Delhi border to enter the national capital before the allocated time. They breached the iconic Red fort and planted a religious flag there. Several arrests have been made in connection to the incident but key instigator Lakha Sidhana continues to be on the run. The gangster-political activist had several cases registered against him in Punjab and was jailed many times. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2012 state assembly polls. (Image: Republicworld.com, PTI)
