Chandigarh: After a 13-year international chase, the CBI has finally brought fugitive Harnek Singh back to India to face trial in a fraud case being heard by a Panchkula court. Singh, who allegedly fled India in 2013 and later entered the US illegally, was deported from the US and arrested by CBI officials at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday.The agency is expected to produce him before the Special Judicial Magistrate (CBI Cases), Panchkula, at the earliest. Singh had been declared a wanted accused after he repeatedly failed to join proceedings in the case involving an alleged fraud network that targeted Indian nationals living and working in Singapore.The CBI had registered the case in Delhi in 2016 for conspiracy, cheating, forgery and use of forged documents, besides offences under the Information Technology Act. The investigation found that fraudsters operating from India allegedly made spoofed calls to victims in Singapore, posing as officials of Singapore Immigration.The victims were falsely told that they had furnished incorrect information in airport disembarkation forms and faced criminal prosecution and deportation. They were subsequently induced to pay purported settlement fees and fines through Western Union Money Transfer to designated recipients in India.The investigation allegedly traced part of the money trail to a outlet operated by Singh in association with co-accused Aditya Bhardwaj and Deepak Jain. Singh left India in May 2013 and remained beyond the reach of investigators for more than a decade. Meanwhile, the trial against Bhardwaj and Jain was completed before the Panchkula court, which convicted both on May 26, 2025. The CBI’s efforts to bring Singh before the court intensified after summons and a bailable warrant served on him in the US through the US Department of Justice failed to secure his appearance. The Panchkula court then issued an open-dated non-bailable warrant against him on April 22, 2024. The agency subsequently activated international mechanisms, including an Interpol Notice and an LOC against Singh’s passport. These measures eventually led to his detention and deportation from the US. With Singh now back in India, the Panchkula court will take up proceedings against the last fugitive accused in a case whose alleged fraud trail crossed international borders.
