The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has sent a list of 28 notorious Indian gangsters to Interpol and alternately to the countries from where they are operating of late. While in several cases the countries haven’t acted against them, in some cases, due to the use of fake passports and identities, they are globetrotting freely.
Notably, these gangsters are operating from 14 countries, mostly from Canada (nine) and the US (five). Others on the list are residing in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Germany, UAE, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Pakistan.
Most of these gangsters hail from Punjab and are involved in extortion, murder, etc. such as the killing of Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moosewala, Dera Premi Manohar Lal’s murder in 2020, and the recent killing of Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri.
Sometime back, Cameron Mackay, the Canadian High Commissioner to India, had promised Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that a “speedy solution will be found to expedite the matter pertaining to the Indian gangsters residing in Canada.” However, there wasn’t any specific commitment about their extradition to India.
Those in the list of the most wanted based in Canada are Sukhdool Singh aka Sukha Duneke, Gurpinder Singh aka Baba Dalla, Satvir Singh Warring aka Sam, Lakhbir Singh Landa, Snover Dhillon, Arshdeep Singh Dalla, Gagandeep Singh aka Gagna, Charanjeet Singh Aka Rinku Bihla, Ramandeep Singh (Raman Judge).
Sukhdool Singh aka Duneke is a Bambiha gang member. He, along with Lucky Padial, manages the activities of the Bambiha gang. Duneke is facing more than a dozen cases of extortion and murder in Punjab.
Gurpinder Singh aka Dalla, now a resident of British Columbia, ancestrally belonged to Moga and used to own a motor workshop in Badni Kalan village in Moga, but later became a Sukhpreet Budda gang member. He once had threatened to kill one of the accused in the sacrilege case Mahinder Pal Singh. Pal was later killed in custody in Nabha jail in 2019.
Lakhbir Singh Landa’s name first came up after the RPG Rocket Propelled Grenade attack at state headquarters in Mohali and the RPG attack in Taran Tarn. He is also wanted in the murder case of Shiv Sena Taksali leader Sudhir Suri.
Snover Dhillon, once close to Mayor of Brampton Patrick Brown, was named the mastermind in the murder of Kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal Ambian, who was killed in Nawanshahr in March 2022.
Arshdeep Singh Dalla is a resident of British Columbia. He is wanted in the murder of Ripudaman Singh Malik an accused in the 1985 Kanishka airplane bombing and was acquitted in 2005. He was killed in 2022.
Charanjeet Singh aka Rinku Bihla is a resident of Bihla in Barnala. He is wanted in many cases of extortion and killings. Bihla was the conduit who arranged money for the murder of Dera Premi Manohar Lal in 2020 and also the attack on a priest Kamaldeep Sharma in Phillaur in 2021.
Raman aka Judge belongs to Ferozepur. He is brother of jailed gangster Gagandeep Singh. Along with Bihla, Raman was instrumental in providing logistics and funds for the killing of Dera Premi and the priest in Phillaur in the year 2020.
Apart from them, five gangsters who shuttle between the US and Canada but of late are based out of the US are Satinderjit Singh Satta aka Goldy Brar, Anmol Bishnoi, Amrit Bal, Darmanjit Singh, and Harjot Singh Gill. Notably, Brar and Anmol Bishnoi are wanted in the Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moosewala’s murder.
There are 14 other most-wanted gangsters wanted by India and the Ministry of Home Affairs has dispatched their names to the countries where these gangsters reside. They include Vikramjeet Sing Brar and Kuldeep Singh in United Arab Emirates, Sachin Thapan, Azerbaijan, Gaurav Padial aka Lucky Armenia, Jagjeet Singh aka Gandhi and Jagpal Singh aka Lali Dhaliwal in Malaysia, Rohit Godara (flew on a Schengen visa to a destination in Europe, Rajesh Kumar aka Sonu Khatri (Brazil), Sandeep Grewal aka Sunny Khwajke (Indonesia), Harry Chatha (Germany), Gurjant Singh (Australia), Ramanjit Singh aka Romi (Hong Kong), Hajinder Sinfh Rinda, Pakistan) and Manpreet Singh aka Pitta (Phillippines).
Against this backdrop, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav comes as a ray of hope. He said, “Our intent is to root out gangsters from Punjab. We have arrested three men who made fake passports of Bambiha and Chatha gang members. We are trying to close all escape routes of gangsters and closing in on their associates. This is an effort towards doing that. And in the days to come more arrests are likely.”
Bringing these criminals to justice in the absence of cooperation from the countries and the Interpol is a Herculean task. Nevertheless, zeroing in on their associates in India will go a long way in putting a check on their nefarious activities in the country.