New Delhi: Days after a Punjab Police SHO was named in a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indictment alongside wanted gangsters, he was arrested by the state police after evidence emerged that he extorted about Rs 16 lakh from a US-based family, officials said Friday.
Gurinderjit Singh Nagra, the former Station House Officer of Tanda Police Station in Hoshiarpur district, is among 37 people of Indian origin—including Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and fugitive designated terrorist Goldy Brar— whom the US seeks to try under various charges.
After Nagra was named in the indictment in connection with alleged extortion from the US-based families of three Punjab men, he was immediately relieved from his duty as an SHO and transferred to the Hoshiarpur Police Line. An investigation was conducted against him by an IPS officer posted outside Hoshiarpur district.
“During the investigation, sufficient evidence has come on record linking Inspector Gurinderjit Nagra with demand, extortion, and illegal gratification from a US-based family,” an officer told ThePrint.
“The investigation conducted so far has revealed that Inspector Gurinderjit Singh Nagra is found to be involved in extorting and accepting Rs 16 lakh as illegal gratification from the US-based family,” said the officer.
Nagra was arrested on 17 July and will be produced before a court on Saturday to seek his police remand to unravel the entire plot, the officer said.
The investigation also looked into the technical analysis, financial trails, statements of witnesses, and other corroborative materials.
Nagra, police said, was under suspension, and appropriate departmental proceedings had been initiated.
What was the case about
The alleged extortion is linked to the January 2026 murder of Aam Aadmi Party leader Balwinder Singh at Miani village in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district. Nagra was the SHO at the Tanda police station in the district and was the supervising officer in the Balwinder Singh murder case.
According to the FBI, the alleged conspiracy to extort money from the US-based family members of three people in Punjab was brewing behind the scenes even while the state police was probing a murder case.
The FBI indictment alleges that a US-based member of the Bhagwanpuria gang contacted Nagra and sent him details of three Punjab residents, directing him to extort money from their US-based family members by threatening to implicate them in the murder case.
In the indictment unsealed by the DoJ on July 7, US authorities have called the Nagra case an example of collusion between “corrupt” police officers and gangsters to expand their criminal network and use government servants for extortion schemes.
The First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said that Nagra had demanded USD 400,000 from a Los Angeles-based family in exchange for not framing their kin in India in a murder case (of AAP member Balwinder Singh).
The Punjab Police officer quoted above said that after the collection of “sufficient evidence”, Nagra has now been nominated as an accused in the case registered at Tanda police station on 16 January 2026 under the Prevention of Corruption Act and section 308 of BNS (extortion).
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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