Nabha jailbreak mastermind's extradition request granted by Hong Kong court

With the coordinated efforts of the Punjab Police and the Indian government, a Hong Kong court ruled in favour of the extradition of a key conspirator in the Nabha jailbreak, who is also an accused in several other major crimes.

"With the coordinated efforts of the Punjab Police and the Indian Government, a Hong Kong Court on Tuesday ruled in favour of the extradition of fugitive Ramanjit Singh alias Romi, the key conspirator in the Nabha Jail Break, as well as several other major crimes," a press release by the Information and Public Relations (I & PR) department of the Punjab government read.

According to the release, Ramanjit Singh is also involved in the illegal drug trade.

He had been arrested in June 2016 in Kotwali Nabha, and fake credit cards and weapons had been recovered from his possession.

Singh developed links with many hardened criminals in the maximum-security Nabha jail.

He was then released on bail in August 2016, following which he fled to Hong Kong by violating bail order conditions.

"On November 27, 2016, sixteen criminals launched an attack on the jail and opened indiscriminate fire and managed to engineer the escape of six most wanted criminals, including Harjinder singh alias Vicky Gounder, Neeta Deol, Gurpreet Sekhon, Aman Dhotian and two terrorists were Harminder Mintoo and Kashmir Singh Galwaddi," the release read.

The Punjab Police had arrested 32 accused in connection with the case. During the course of interrogation, police came to know that Singh was one of the main conspirator and facilitator, "who coordinated the attack on the maximum-security Nabha Jail by providing financial and logistical support to the escapees after the jail break."

The proceedings to get the Ramanjit Singh extradited from Hong Kong started in 2018 after his arrest overseas.

"Punjab Police made a formal request for provisional arrest under Article 10 of the bilateral Extradition Treaty, signed in Hong Kong on June 28, 1997 between the Government of India and Government of Hong Kong," the release added.