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Punjab Police arrest officer charged in US for allegedly extorting Los Angeles family

Scroll | July 19, 2026 12:39 AM CST

The Punjab Police has arrested an officer more than a week after he was charged in the United States in an alleged extortion conspiracy involving India-based organised crime groups, PTI reported on Saturday.

On July 7, the authorities in the US charged Gurinderjit Singh for allegedly extorting $400,000 from a family in Los Angeles by threatening to file false murder cases against their relatives in India.

First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli had said at the time that Washington will seek the extradition of the Indian police officer.

The US federal indictments alleged that he colluded with members of an organised crime group led by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria to target perceived rivals with threats of false cases and demands for money, The Tribune reported.

The indictment alleges that in April, a California-based member of the Bhagwanpuria syndicate named Gurlal Singh threatened a victim in the US before passing on the person’s details to a “corrupt law enforcement officer” in Punjab.

Gurinderjit Singh allegedly implicated the victim, as well as the victim’s father and sister in a murder case in Punjab in connection with the killing of a person in January, The Tribune reported.

When the charges were made public, Gurinderjit Singh claimed that he had no idea why he had been named, The Indian Express reported. He had been shifted to the Police Lines in Hoshiarpur...