Chandigarh: In a first-ever extradition from Europe and a major breakthrough against transnational organised crime, Punjab Police, with the assistance of central agencies, secured the extradition of fugitive criminal Amritpal Singh, alias Amrit Dalam, a key operative of the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang, from Moldova, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Saturday.
He is wanted in multiple cases of murders, attempt to murder, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), arms Act and Narcotic offences, etc, the DGP wrote on X.
He said this was the first-ever extradition secured by Punjab Police from a European country, marking a significant milestone in the fight against organised crime.
Accused Amritpal was detained by Moldovan authorities on February 24, while he was attempting to cross the Otaci state border towards Ukraine, following which the extradition process against him was initiated through Overseas Fugitive Tracking and Extradition Cell (OFTEC) Punjab.
During these proceedings, the Court of Chisinau granted the extradition of Amritpal to India on May 26. His appeal against the extradition order was also rejected by the Court of Appeal Centru on July 16, thereby making the extradition order final.
DGP Yadav said following the extradition of the accused, a four-member team of Punjab Police was sent to Moldova to bring him back to India.
The team, led by Superintendent of Police (Anti-Gangster Task Force-AGTF) Bikramjit Singh Brar, comprised Inspector Pushvinder Singh, Sub-Inspector Jaspreet Singh and ASI Varinder Kumar as members.
The accused was taken into custody by the team of Punjab Police from Chisinau Airport in Moldova on Friday and arrived at IGI Airport in New Delhi on Saturday, he said, adding the accused is being brought back to face the law in Punjab.
“This is the first-ever extradition secured by Punjab Police from a European country, marking a significant milestone in our fight against organised crime,” said the DGP, while adding that the operation marks the successful culmination of ‘Operation Eastern Reach’– a six-month-long Intelligence-led international manhunt involving sustained surveillance, strategic Intelligence gathering and close coordination with national and international agencies.
While commending the efforts of AGTF Punjab and OFTEC, the DGP also thanked the Moldovan authorities, Azerbaijan authorities, International Police Cooperation Unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (IPCU-CBI), Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and all other central agencies as part of this international cooperation.
Additional Director General of Police (AGTF) Promod Ban said the accused is wanted in at least seven murder cases including the murder of Dalbir Singh in Batala in 2019, double murder case of Amrjeet Lal and Kashmiri Lal in Hoshiarpur in 2024, murder of Dharamjit Singh, alias Dharma, in 2025, double murder case of Kanav Mahajan and Sarabjit Singh, alias Kaka, in 2025 and murder of Jasdeep Singh, alias Deep Cheema, in 2025.
The accused had fled abroad in October 2024, using a fake passport prepared on particulars of Gurpal, son of Hira Singh, resident of Kurukshetra, Haryana, he said.
The accused gangster’s movements were tracked across multiple countries, while he was on the run, said the ADGP, while adding Punjab Police had issued a Red Notice against the accused and shared inputs regarding his fake passport and whereabouts with central agencies at different intervals, which subsequently led to his extradition.
Inspector General of Police (Counter Intelligence), Ashish Choudhary, said that since the establishment of OFTEC, nine high-priority fugitives have been deported from different countries in addition to the current extradition.
Due to the efforts of the cell, two extradition requests sent this year, have resulted in success, the earlier being the case of Amritpal Mehron from the UAE, he said.
He said the OFTEC is vigorously pursuing extradition matter of 11 other foreign-based fugitives.
(IANS)
