13-year-run ends: CBI arrests Singapore scam accused after extradition from US

Harnek Singh (in turban), against whom an Interpol Red Notice and a Look-Out Circular (LOC) were in force, had allegedly fled India in May 2013 and subsequently entered the US illegally. (Photo: X/@DDNewslive)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a fugitive who had been on the run for more than 13 years in a case involving fraud and spoofed calls targeting Indian nationals in Singapore, officials said Thursday. The accused, Harnek Singh, was deported from the US and arrested on his arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Harnek, against whom an Interpol Red Notice and a Look-Out Circular (LOC) were in force, had allegedly fled India in May 2013 and subsequently entered the US illegally, where he remained absconding for more than a decade. He will be produced before the Special Judicial Magistrate (CBI Cases), Panchkula, at the earliest, a CBI spokesperson said.

The case relates to a 2013 fraud in which Indian nationals residing or working in Singapore were allegedly targeted by callers operating from India who impersonated officials of Singapore Immigration authorities.

“The victims were falsely informed that they had furnished incorrect information in their disembarkation forms at the airport and were liable to criminal prosecution and deportation. They were thereafter induced to pay purported settlement fees/fines through Western Union Money Transfer to designated receivers in India,” the spokesperson said.

The agency registered the case in Delhi in 2016 under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and use of forged documents as genuine, besides relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.

According to the CBI, its investigation established that the cheated money was received through a money-transfer outlet operated by Garnek in association with co-accused Aditya Bhardwaj, a resident of Kurukshetra, and Deepak Jain, a resident of Gurgaon.

While Harnek remained absconding, proceedings against Bhardwaj and Jain continued before the Special Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Panchkula. Both were convicted on May 26, 2025, and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

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The CBI said summons and a bailable warrant had been served to Harnek in the US through the US Department of Justice, but he failed to appear before the trial court. Subsequently, an open-dated non-bailable warrant of arrest was issued against him by the Court of the Special Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Panchkula, on April 22, 2024.

The agency thereafter pursued the matter through Interpol channels, leading to the publication of a Red Notice against Singh and the opening of a Look-Out Circular against his passport. Following his deportation from the US, he was arrested.