First-ever gangster extradition from Europe shows Bhagwant Mann govt’s no-compromise stand against gangsters: Aman Arora

Among those brought back is notorious gangster Amritpal Singh alias Amrit Dalam, who faces three serious cases and was brought back from Moldova on Saturday.

New Delhi: Drawing a sharp contrast between the era when Akali and Congress leaders traded charges over gangsters on the floor of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and the Bhagwant Mann Government’s crackdown that has now brought a wanted gangster back from Europe, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab President and Cabinet Minister Aman Arora on Saturday said the first-ever extradition of a gangster from Europe marks the Mann Government’s uncompromising stand against gangsterism. He said that while the previous Akali-BJP and Congress governments allowed gangsterism to flourish to the extent that leaders were openly debating in the 2021 Budget Session over “whose gangster” Jaggu Bhagwanpuria was, the AAP Government has pursued such fugitives across borders and ensured they are brought back to face the law.

The AAP Punjab President said that the Mann Government has left no stone unturned to eradicate drugs and gangsterism from Punjab and will not allow such elements to operate either from Punjab or from foreign soil. He said the Overseas Fugitive Tracking and Extradition Cell (OFTEC), established on January 20, 2026, has already secured the deportation or extradition of 10 wanted fugitives in seven months, while 21 more extradition proposals are pending with the Central Government.

Addressing a press conference at Punjab Bhawan, AAP Punjab President and Cabinet Minister Aman Arora said that the Bhagwant Mann Government had made the fight against drugs and gangsters a firm resolve since coming to power. “Our resolve throughout the tenure of the Bhagwant Mann Government has been that we will leave no stone unturned in eliminating drugs and gangsters from Punjab. We believe these are the very elements that previous governments allowed to flourish, whether it was the 10-year Akali Dal-BJP government or the five-year Congress government,” he said.

The AAP Punjab President stated that the situation during the previous regimes had reached such a stage that gangsterism had become a major issue even inside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. “If you take out the speeches from the 2021 Budget Session of the Vidhan Sabha, when the Akali Dal was in Opposition and Congress was in power, you will see how gangsters had become so emboldened that they were openly being discussed on the floor of the House,” he said.

Referring to the records of the 2021 Budget Session, Aman Arora said Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Akali leader........

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