Chandigarh: Gangster Neeraj Faridpuria was sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case in 2015. Four years later, he was out on bail granted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Today, he sits in a US immigration facility.
Originally from Faridabad’s Faridpur village, Neeraj Faridpuria was detained on 22 October in the Las Vegas area of Nevada, along with gangster Himanshu Bhau, originally from Rohtak. Both have long been accused of running a criminal syndicate in Haryana from foreign soil.
Faridabad police said they have received information about the detention and are collecting more details. Contacted by The Print Monday, Satender Kumar Gupta, Commissioner of Police, Faridabad, said a recommendation for Neeraj’s extradition had already been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in connection with the 2019 murder of Congress spokesperson Vikas Chaudhary.
Gupta said that the State Task Force (STF) of Haryana Police is looking into all modalities for bringing Neeraj Faridpuria back to Haryana.
From local thug to gang chief
Police sources said Neeraj entered the world of crime around 2013-14, initially operating in Faridabad and Palwal.
Yash Pal, public relations officer (PRO) in the Faridabad Police, told The Print that Neeraj has 41 criminal cases against his name in the state, including at least four of murder. The rest involve charges of attempt to murder, dacoity, robbery, extortion, illegal arms and assault. Nearly 12 cases each are registered in Faridabad and Palwal. He also faces cases in Gurugram and Sonipat.
Pal said that some of the cases against Neeraj are under investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the STF as well. “Once he is extradited, his custody will first go to the bigger agency, the NIA. Then to the STF and finally to the police forces of the districts,” he said, explaining the procedure to be followed when an accused is wanted by multiple agencies.
Neeraj Faridpuria was arrested in a murder case in 2012 and convicted three years later. After he got bail in 2019, his name surfaced in another murder in Palwal, and a reward of Rs 25,000 was announced for any information that might lead to his arrest.
It was in jail that his world widened. Police sources said he met Kaushal Chaudhary of Naharpur Rupa in Gurugram and Amit Dagar there. Kaushal is described as an old member of the Bambiha gang. Through him, Neeraj found a place in the crime syndicate.
On 26 June 2019, Vikas Chaudhary, then a spokesperson of the Haryana Congress, was shot dead outside a gym in Faridabad. Investigators named Neeraj and Kaushal in the killing. The police version is that Vikas was targeted for refusing to pay extortion money.
After getting bail, Neeraj flew to Canada via Dubai. In November 2023, it was claimed that the Bambiha gang’s command had been handed to him. Until then, Lucky Patial, said to be based in Armenia, was suspected to be handling its affairs.
Neeraj’s name kept surfacing in later cases. In July 2024, a man in Palwal’s Chandhat village got a call demanding Rs 1 crore. The caller introduced himself as Neeraj Faridpuria and threatened to kill the man’s family if he refused. In August 2025, bike-borne men fired at the Gurugram home of YouTuber Elvish Yadav. Police said names of shooters linked to the Neeraj and Himanshu Bhau gangs came up during the probe, and a social media post claiming responsibility was traced to the gang.
The NIA also raided his family residence Faridpur in October 2022. Before that, the administration had demolished a portion of his residence.
Who was Davinder Bambiha
The gang gets its name from Davinder Singh Sidhu, known as Davinder Bambiha.
Davinder was from Bambiha Bhai village in Moga district of Punjab and was a kabaddi player before he turned to a life of crime. He was arrested in a murder case in 2010 and built his own network during his time behind bars.
He was killed in a Punjab Police encounter on 9 September 2016. But, the gang survived. His associates, Lucky Patial and Sukhpreet Budha among them, kept operating in his name from Punjab, other states and abroad.
The criminal syndicate also built ties with criminals in Haryana, which is where Neeraj came into the picture.
Bloody feud with Bishnoi
Bambiha gang’s rivalry with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi gang goes back to Chandigarh’s campus politics and Punjab’s jails. Bishnoi, born in Punjab, rose through student politics and built a network spread across Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan.
His feud with the Bambiha gang grew through killing and counter-killing.
In October 2020, Gurlal Brar, a Bishnoi associate and a cousin of Goldy Brar (Satinderjit Singh Brar), was shot dead in Chandigarh. Police have linked the Bambiha gang to that murder.
And in August 2021, Vicky Middukhera, a Youth Akali Dal leader, was shot dead in Mohali. The Bishnoi camp alleged that people from the Bambiha gang close to singer Sidhu Moosewala had a role in the killing. That allegation became the base of what followed.
In March 2022, kabaddi player Sandeep Singh Nangal Ambia was shot dead during a tournament in Jalandhar district. Reports linked the Bambiha gang to the killing.
And on 29 May 2022, Moosewala was shot dead in Jawaharke village of Mansa district. Bishnoi’s then associate, Goldy Brar, claimed responsibility on social media for the Bishnoi network and called it revenge for Middukhera. The killing made the feud a national story. The Bambiha group and its allies threatened retaliation, though Davinder Bambiha had been dead for almost six years.
In September 2023, Sukhdool Singh alias Sukha Duneke, linked to the Bambiha network, was shot dead in Winnipeg, Canada. The Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the killing online.
Police sources caution that a gang’s claim on social media is not proof of its role. Small-time criminals also use big gang names to scare victims.
Further, in 2025, a rift was reported between Bishnoi and Goldy Brar, with Brar said to have sided with Rohit Godara and Bishnoi with Noni Rana. The details come from police and intelligence sources, not from any court finding. The feud is no longer a two-gang affair.
For Haryana police, the immediate question is whether and when they can bring Neeraj back to face trial. Police sources told The Print that the extradition route could take a long time, as the US authorities must first decide his immigration case.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Who is Kaushal-Bambiha gang member Gaurav Gadoli, extradited to India after 3-yr pursuit