Gurugram: As about 50 men from Haryana landed in a flight bringing deportees from the US, one of them was of particular interest for security agencies: Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha, a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang staying illegally there for the past three years.
Lakha was arrested soon after the batch of men arrived Saturday night at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, Terminal-3, on flight OAE-4767. On Sunday, a court in Ambala remanded the close associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in eight days of police custody.
The gangster had been living illegally in the US since 2022, operating under direct instructions from Lawrence’s brother Anmol Bishnoi to coordinate extortion rackets, threats, and other criminal activities targeting India from American soil, according to Special Task Force (STF) Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikrant Bhushan.
The STF had issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) and Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Lakhvinder in 2023 and 2024.
His deportation and arrest is being touted as a big success by the Haryana Police even as the latest round of mass deportations have triggered a sharp criticism from the Congress against the Modi government.
“Major success of STF against organised crime. Another coward, fugitive, and traitor dragged back from #America by #HaryanaPolice. Wanted in extortion and firing cases across multiple states,” Haryana Police chief O.P.Singh described Lakha’s deportation and arrest in his post on X on Sunday.
The Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) also shared a video of STF SP Bhushan, on his ‘X’ handle. Bhushan is heard saying in the video that this arrest is the result of seamless collaboration between the Haryana STF, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other central agencies.
संगठित अपराध के खिलाफ STF की बड़ी सफलता 🚔
एक और कायर, भगोड़े और गद्दार को #अमेरिका से घसीट लाई #हरियाणा पुलिस
कई राज्यों में रंगदारी और फायरिंग के मामलों में वांछित था। 🇮🇳 #CountdownForCowards
— OP Singh, DGP, Haryana (@opsinghips) October 26, 2025
“As you all know, our team has been relentlessly working to dismantle the networks of notorious gangsters operating from abroad, particularly those linked to Lawrence Bishnoi and his syndicate,” the STF SP says in the video.
“In a major breakthrough, the Ambala unit of the Haryana STF has arrested Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha, a close aide of Lawrence Bishnoi. Lakha, a resident of Titarm village in Kaithal district, was deported from the US on 25 October, following his arrest by the FBI.”
The gangster was sent to police custody by the Ambala court in connection with a 2023 firing case registered at Sector 9 police station, wherein he allegedly orchestrated an attack on an oil trader’s residence to extort money.
Lakha faces at least six extortion cases in Haryana, spanning across five districts. Additionally, multiple FIRs have been filed against him in Punjab for similar offenses, including threats and firing incidents.
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Another gangster tracked
The other wanted man in the flight was gangster Sunil Sardhana. A Gurugram Police spokesperson informed The Print that Sardhana, the main accused in the firing on Haryanvi singer Rahul Fazilpuria, was presented before a court and taken on five-day police custody.
During the remand, he will be thoroughly interrogated regarding his accomplices and other criminal activities. Based on the facts that emerge during the investigation, further action will be taken as per law.
Meanwhile, a breakdown of the deportees—aged 25 to 40—show that the maximum came from Karnal (16), followed by Kaithal (14), Kurukshetra (5) and the rest from other districts of Haryana.
A police source told ThePrint that most of the deported men had gone to the US through the risky ‘Dunki route’ after paying hefty sums to agents.
“16 people were from Karnal district. We have handed them over to their families as 15 of them didn’t have any crime record, while one had a case of electricity theft against him in which he was on bail,” Karnal SP Ganga Ram Punia told ThePrint.
Asked whether any of their families have lodged any complaints against the agents who sent them to the US illegally, Punia replied in the negative.
This latest batch follows a grim tally of 604 deportations from Haryana between January and July this year, underscoring a deepening crisis of youth migration fuelled by unemployment back at home.
The deportations have ignited political criticism of the BJP government, with Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala launching a sharp attack on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) Sunday morning.
Surjewala termed the deportations as, “another installment of the BJP-manufactured curse of migration,” spotlighting the “helplessness and ruin” of Haryana’s youth.
“Yesterday, PM Modi was touting ‘Reel-making’ as employment in election rallies, and today, Haryana’s Lifafa CM Nayab Saini is lost in Dhanyawaad Rally while everything crumbles (sic)!” he said, pointing the 50 returnees—15 from Kaithal—who faced “years of imprisonment and torture” before being “dumped in Delhi like criminals.”
Surjewala’s tweet, accompanied by pictures of the shackled youths, highlighted the human cost. “Some sold homes and land, others took loans for a brighter tomorrow… but got only oppression, humiliation, and an indelible scar?”
He accused the “double-engine BJP” of forcing families to “pawn everything” via deadly Dunki paths, questioning when the “unemployment epidemic” denial would end. “Will Nayab Saini crack jokes or give answers?” the post concluded.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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