Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann welcomed former gangster and aspiring politician Gurpreet Singh Sekhon into the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at a rally in Zira in Ferozepur district Sunday, presenting him with a party scarf.
From being one of the most wanted men in Punjab after escaping from the high-security Nabha jail in November 2016, to sharing the stage with the state’s chief minister, Sekhon’s journey of reinvention has unfolded in less than 10 years.
Sekhon’s induction has triggered severe criticism of AAP, with Opposition questioning why the ruling party has welcomed him into its fold, despite his criminal history.
Gang wars
A resident of Mudki in Ferozepur, 49-year-old Sekhon comes from an affluent family that owned agricultural land and brick kilns. He trained as a flight attendant, but joined the gang of Gurshahid Singh alias ‘Shera Khubban’ and Jaipal Bhullar around 2010. The gang had 20-odd members at the time and operated in the Ferozepur-Bathinda-Muktsar belt.
Sekhon soon got embroiled in the bloody gang wars that raged across Punjab for almost a decade, beginning with the killing of bodybuilder and gym trainer-turned-gangster Gurshahid Singh alias Happy Deora in July 2012.
The alleged killer, Shera Khubban, was killed by the police the same year. The Khubban gang chose Jaipal as their leader, who then shifted base to Rajasthan, while Sekhon allegedly led it in Punjab.
The first case against Sekhon was registered the same year under the Arms Act and thus began his cat-and-mouse chase with the police.
He, along with at least a dozen members of his gang, allegedly killed another gangster, Sukhvir Singh alias Sukha Kahlwan, in January 2015.
Kahlwan’s sensational murder, while being transported in police custody near Phagwara, brought the “Sekhon Mudki gang” to the top of the list of most wanted men in Punjab. Police believed that the killers even danced around Kahlwan’s body and reportedly filmed the entire episode.
Sekhon was arrested in connection with the case in March 2015. Lodged in the high-security jail at Nabha, Sekhon is said to have become a close associate of inmate militant Harminder Singh alias Mintoo of the Khalistan Liberation Force. Sekhon was influenced by Mintoo to become religious and transform into a true Sikh.
In November, 2016, armed men dressed as policemen stormed the high-security Nabha prison, opened fire and freed six inmates. Sekhon was one of them.
Sekhon’s gang members Harjinder Bhullar alias Vicky Gounder, Kulpreet Singh alias Neeta Deol and Amandeep Dhotian, who were also jailed for killing Kahlwan, also escaped. So did Mintoo and his associate Kashmir Singh Galwadi of the KLF.
The jailbreak became one of the most spectacular demonstrations of the emerging gangster-militant nexus in Punjab.
Sekhon was not merely one of the men who escaped. According to the police investigation and later court proceedings, he also helped plan the jailbreak from inside Nabha jail, while his associates outside executed the attack.
His cousin Manvir Sekhon and Rajwinder Singh alias Raja Sultan were among those accused of facilitating the operation. Palwinder Singh Pinda, arrested later, told investigators that Sekhon and gangster Prem Lahoria had plotted the jailbreak.
Sekhon was arrested in February 2017 from Dhudike in Moga, along with three associates. Police said he had been moving through Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh after the jailbreak, changing identities and appearances. His arrest came after a two-hour operation in which several weapons were recovered.
Mintoo was arrested within a day of the jailbreak and died in 2018 of cardiac arrest in Patiala jail. Neeta was arrested in January 2017 and Dhotian was arrested in April 2017.
Gounder and Prema Lahoria were killed in a police encounter in Rajasthan in 2018. Galwadi was arrested by the NIA in May last year.
The Kahlwan murder case against Sekhon collapsed for lack of evidence. In February 2019, a Kapurthala court acquitted eight accused, including Sekhon, after police witnesses present at the murder failed to identify the accused and investigators could not match bullets recovered from Kahlwan’s body with weapons seized from the accused.
In the Nabha jailbreak case in March 2023, a Patiala court convicted 22 accused. Sekhon, Neeta Deol and Amandeep Dhotian were among the escapees convicted and were sentenced to 10 years.
The court did not sustain the UAPA provisions initially invoked in the case, but convicted the accused under provisions including attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, dacoity and the Arms Act.
Sekhon was released from jail on 22 November 2023, after the Punjab and Haryana High Court suspended his conviction while hearing his appeal. The appeal is still pending.
In multiple interviews to YouTube channels following his release, Sekhon talked about having been reformed. He said prison changed him and that he spent considerable time reciting Gurbani.
His public appearance has also changed dramatically: from the gangster image of his earlier years to that of a turbaned, bearded Sikh.
He started working in the Ferozepur -Zira belt as a social worker, helping arrange marriages for poor women, contributing to the repair of local roads, distributing rations, cattle feed and flood relief.
He had already begun testing the political waters before joining the AAP. In the Zila Parishad polls in December last year, he was supported by the Akalis.
He had fielded his wife Mandeep Kaur from the Bajidpur seat and a close relative, Kuljeet Kaur, from the Ferozeshah seat. Both won.
Encouraged by the results, Sekhon told media persons that he would be contesting the 2027 assembly elections from a seat in Ferozepur district.
His joining the AAP at Zira where he was also declared as the in charge of the constituency has led to speculation as his being the possible candidate of the party from this seat.
Sharp criticism
Congress state president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring argued that the move risks establishing a precedent in which criminals can enter politics and use electoral power to wash away their past.
He also mentioned what he called the irony that Arvind Kejriwal had described the Nabha jailbreak in 2016 as evidence of the collapse of law and order in Punjab, while the man identified by police as its mastermind has now been welcomed by Kejriwal’s party.
Former Congress chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa have asked Mann to clarify whether his government is fighting gangsters or politically aligning with them.
Jalandhar, Punjab: Congress MP and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi says, "The move taken yesterday by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Chief Minister is extremely shameful. A notorious gangster—accused of a jailbreak and of facilitating the escape of prisoners by opening… pic.twitter.com/CAvZupIfYS
— IANS (@ians_india) September 7, 2026
The Congress wrote on X that AAP was gathering the “gangs of Kejriwal”.
Bhagwant Mann has inducted Gurpreet Singh Sekhon into AAP – a gangster-turned-politician with 47 criminal cases registered against him and the prime accused in the 2016 Nabha jailbreak case.
The contradiction is glaring.
👉 Mann himself once spoke strongly against gangsters.… pic.twitter.com/PRe3eQ6miB
— Punjab Congress (@INCPunjab) September 7, 2026
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parambans Singh Romana said this showed how serious the party was in dealing with gangsters.
“Meet the poster boy of AAP Gurpreet Sekhon – He has 49 criminal cases against him which include “murder, attempt to murder, extortion, kidnapping, Arms act, NDPS , UAPA etc” Is this your version of “Gangsters Te Waar” Bhagwant Mann,” he wrote on X.
Meet the poster boy of AAP Gurpreet Sekhon – He has 49 criminal cases against him which include “murder, attempt to murder, extortion, kidnapping, Arms act, NDPS , UAPA etc”‼️
Is this your version of “Gangsters Te Waar”@BhagwantMann ❓❓ pic.twitter.com/0HYsKHRMcE
— Parambans Singh Romana (@ParambansRomana) September 8, 2026
SAD spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kaler has also attacked AAP for allegedly becoming so short of candidates that it is willing to pick people without properly examining their backgrounds.
The BJP’s criticism has been equally pointed.
BJP leader Fateh Jung Bajwa questioned Mann’s earlier claim that gangsterism was the product of the Badal family and Congress, asking why controversial figures were now moving towards the AAP. His charge was blunt: that the AAP’s priority had become winning elections, even if that meant admitting controversial figures.
#WATCH | Chandigarh | BJP leader Fatehjang Singh Bajwa says, "Four years ago, Bhagwant Mann used to say that all the gangsters in Punjab were either nurtured by the Akali Dal or had the backing of the Congress. What does Bhagwant Mann intend to prove by inducting Gurpreet Singh… pic.twitter.com/7a51MtAdwH
— ANI (@ANI) September 8, 2026
Mann defended the move on stage after joining saying that people should not be judged only by their past and that circumstances can sometimes push people onto the wrong path. Sekhon, in turn, praised Mann for his initiatives.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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