The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has secured the return to India of long-absconding accused Harnek Singh, who had been evading investigation and trial since 2013 in a case involving conspiracy, cheating, forgery and the use of forged documents as genuine, officials said on Thursday.
The accused is expected to be produced before the Court of the Special Judicial Magistrate (CBI Cases), Panchkula, Haryana, at the earliest, officials said.
The accused allegedly impersonated officials of Singapore Immigration authorities and used the false identity to threaten victims with legal consequences. The investigation subsequently established that the money allegedly obtained from the victims was received through a money-transfer outlet operated by Harnek Singh in association with co-accused Aditya Bhardwaj and Deepak Jain. The investigation found that in 2013, Indian nationals residing or working in Singapore were targeted by fraudsters operating from India through spoofed telephone calls, according to officials. Officials said Singh fled India in May 2013 and later entered the United States illegally, where he remained absconding for more than a decade while the investigation and subsequent legal proceedings continued in India. The trial against co-accused Aditya Bhardwaj and Deepak Jain was eventually concluded before the Special Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Panchkula, and both accused were convicted by the court on May 26, 2025.
During the period in which Singh remained unavailable to the investigating and judicial authorities, proceedings against the other accused continued before the trial court. Meanwhile, despite summons and a bailable warrant being served upon Harnek Singh in the United States through the US Department of Justice, he failed to appear before the trial court in India.
