Masterminds behind murders overseas, police feel helpless

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, February 12

A striking rise in the number of foreign-based citizens carrying out brazen crimes in the region and getting off scot-free for months or years has become a massive cause of concern for the police and law enforcement agencies.

High-profile cases

• Kabaddi player Sandeep Singh, alias Sandeep Nangal Ambiyan, was shot dead by five unidentified assailants during a kabaddi match in Mallian village in Jalandhar on March 14, 2022. The police nominated six conspirators who are settled abroad
• Nakodar-based cloth merchant Timmy Chawla and his personal security officer Mandeep Singh were murdered on December 7, 2022. Mastermind Amandeep Purewala, a native of Nakodar, is based in the US

In the past one week alone, at least four such cases saw the active aid or abetment by a citizen based abroad. Doaba’s two most glaring crimes in the recent past — the Sandeep Nangal Ambiyan murder case and the Timmy Chawla and constable Mandeep Singh murder cases — both have key roles from some US or Canada-based accused who are still at large.

Kingpins, masterminds or active aides in heinous crimes like kidnappings, murders, thefts, robberies etc, are reportedly persons calling the shots from abroad. In recent extortion cases, many people from overseas have been facilitating calls or threats to Punjab or Doaba-based families.

Especially after the Sidhu Moosewala murder case and the Nakodar Timmy Chawla murder case (which too had a US-based key conspirator) there has been a spate of extortion crimes with international links. In almost all these cases, the overseas perpetrators are still at large — leaving the police grappling with a scenario in which the accused can continue criminal activities — even though their aides in India might have been caught.

On February 6, the Kapurthala police revealed that eight members of a gang with links in the US had been nabbed for the kidnapping of a Kapurthala-based man (to demand ransom), whose son was in the US. While eight people were arrested initially in the case, and four later; the gang has potent links abroad. One of those arrested — Vijay Kumar, an aide of Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa.

Of those still at large, one of them is a resident of the US. Lovejit Singh, an accused, who threatened the family and demanded ransom, is a US resident. His aid was instrumental for the gang making calls and threatening the family. On Saturday, the Kapurthala police revealed the arrest of a man in an inter-country gang of extortionists. A man was arrested for threatening a Sultanpur Lodhi Financier, Jaswinder Singh, and demanding Rs 10 lakh from him.

While a Sultanpur Lodhi gangster was arrested for the crime, two of the absconding associates of the same criminal are his Italy-based aides — Suraj Sharma, a resident of Jwala Nagar in Sultanpur Lodhi, and Harjit Singh, a resident of Chitti village in Lambra, Jalandhar – who currently resides in Italy. It was from their Italy-based numbers that calls were made to the financier.

On Saturday, an aide of gangster Sukha Kahlwan and two other people (with a history of serious crimes) were nabbed for planning a hit-job — a revenge crime to target a graphic designer. The accused told the police that the operation has been planned by US-based Sukhwinder Sokhi who wanted a gang to cause serious physical injuries to his cousin brother Daljit, and to make a video of the same to send to him in the US, which could go viral.

Kapurthala SSP Navneet Singh Bains said, “In the case of extraditions, the police have to send a formal request for extradition proceedings through the Ministry of Home Affairs. Some people have been extradited in the past.

However, given the frequency of overseas residents involved in crimes, it is a complicated scenario and a new challenge.

The process of the extradition of some of the kingpins of recent overseas crimes is also on.” Swarandeep Singh, SSP, Rural Jalandhar, could not be contacted for comment.