The Punjab Government on Tuesday defended the continuing preventive detention of Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, asserting that the “gravity and enormity of the threat posed by the hit list” and his “close intimate association with dreaded terrorists and gangsters” formed the core of the detention order.Appearing for the State before the bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, senior advocate Anupam Gupta submitted that the principal grounds of detention were twofold: the existence of a 15-member “hit list” and the petitioner’s alleged proximity to designated terrorists, including individual notified under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.“If I were to attempt to describe the grounds of detention in a single line,” he told the court, “that would be the gravity and the enormity of the threat posed by the hit list, and the petitioner’s close intimate association with dreaded terrorists, terrorists and gangsters”, Gupta submitted.Referring to a tabulated list placed on record, the State contended that the identities, roles, and locations of the 15 individuals named as targets had not been factually disputed during arguments. Gupta argued that most entries related to persons who had turned critical of Amritpal Singh and were allegedly vocal in their opposition to him.The State further relied on a January 9, 2023, notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, designating Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla as a terrorist and adding his name to the Fourth Schedule of the Act. Reading from the notification, Gupta submitted that the individual was “associated with the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF)” and “involved in heinous crimes such as murder, extortion and targeted killings besides terror activities”.The State placed heavy reliance on witness statements recorded during investigation under the new criminal procedure regime. One such statement, reproduced in the grounds of detention, referred to telephonic conversations allegedly managed between Amritpal Singh and others through an encrypted platform described in court as the “Jangi” app.On instructions, Gupta submitted that the application was “far more than WhatsApp, completely encrypted” and that intelligence agencies had been unable to penetrate it so far. The bench indicated that the matter would continue on the following day, with Gupta undertaking to conclude submissions.The Khadoor Sahib MP had challenged the legality of the third successive detention order issued against him, alleging absence of any credible material linking him with prejudicial activities. It was claimed that the detention was “arbitrary, void of jurisdiction and violative of constitutional safeguards under Articles 21 and 22”. It was submitted that Amritpal Singh had remained under preventive detention since April 2023 despite the absence of any supporting material for continued incarceration.