Chandigarh, November 9, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Punjab Finance Minister and senior AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday claimed that the Bhagwant Mann government had brought back 17 gangsters from foreign countries in six months, alleging that previous governments had failed to achieve similar results over decades.
Addressing a press conference, Cheema said Punjab Police had conducted 1,61,266 raids and arrested around 2,162 proclaimed offenders between January 20 and November 7, 2026, under the ‘Gangstran Te Vaar’ campaign.
He said the latest breakthrough was the deportation of Gurwinder Singh alias Afridi from Ethiopia on November 7. According to Cheema, Afridi carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh, faced more than 30 criminal cases and had allegedly procured a fake passport in Uttar Pradesh before travelling to the UAE and subsequently Ethiopia.
Cheema said Afridi was allegedly involved in several serious cases in Punjab, including the murders of Sarpanch Rajwinder Singh, 12-year-old Gursewak Singh, Vicky Chugh, Jaswant Singh and Congress block president Gurmail Singh.
Listing other operations, Cheema named Ramanjit Singh Romi, brought back from Hong Kong; Amrit Singh from the Maldives; Prabhpreet Singh from Germany; Parminder Singh Pindi from the UAE; Sajjan Mahesh and Sukhdev Kumar Manish Baidi from Indonesia; Ajay Singh, Pawandeep Singh and Jaspreet Singh from Malaysia; and Karmbir Singh Deol from Canada.
The minister said the campaign was launched to take decisive action against gangsters and criminal elements, irrespective of where they operated from. He asserted that the government was determined to make Punjab a gangster-free state.
Cheema alleged that gangsters had been created and nurtured during the Akali-BJP regime and allowed to flourish under the Congress. He also questioned how Afridi allegedly managed to obtain a fake passport in Uttar Pradesh, a state governed by the BJP.
He further accused the BJP of using gangsters to intimidate people and destabilise opposition-ruled states. Referring to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail, Cheema alleged that criminal elements were being provided protection and used to issue threats against political opponents.
The AAP leader said the government would present strong evidence against the accused in courts to secure convictions. He reiterated that the administration would not allow anyone to threaten Punjab’s peace and security.
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