Crime: Of 7208 fugitives on Interpol’s Red Corner Notices, 216 are Indians and and 55 Canadians

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What is common between Nirav Deepak Modi and Goldy Brar?

While Nirav Deepak Modi is a fugitive Diamond merchant, Goldy Brar is a gangster belonging to infamous Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Both are presently overseas – Nirav Deepak Modi in UK and Goldy Brar in Canada. They are wanted by Indian police in different cases.

Their commonality is that they both have Red Corner Notices issued against them by Interpol.

Nirav Deepak Modi, the 51-year-old fugitive diamond merchant wanted in India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an estimated US$ 2-billion Punjab National  Bank (PNB) scam case, continues to be on the Interpol’s Red Corner Notice list.

He has been behind bars at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March 2019. His appeal against his extradition to India is scheduled to come up before London Royals Court on June 28.

Though Nirav Deepak Modi has been behind bars since 2019 and is facing trial against his deportation to India, his name continues to figure on the RCN list of Interpol.

The high profile Nirav Deepak Modi case was overtaken early this  month when Interpol added the name of 28-year-old Satinderjit Singh, alias Goldy Brar, to its Red Corner Notice (RCN) list. Based in Canada, Goldy Brar belonging to infamous Lawrence Bishnoi gang has claimed responsibility for the killing of noted Punjabi folk singer Sidhu Moose Wala on May 29.

A careful scrutiny of the Interpol list of fugitives on Red Corner Notices (RCNs) reveals that a number of Punjabis, both Indians and Canadians, figure on it.

Of 55 Canadians on the RCN list of Interpol, at least six – Gurjit Singh (50), Parminder Singh Deo (67), Pardeep Singh (45), Harbans Singh Sidhu (64), Gursewak Singh Dhillon (57) and Gurbir Singh Ghuman (65) –  are Punjabis.

Interestingly, a 93-year-old US-based Indian Saraswati  Paramandand, also figures in the RCN list of Interpol. He is perhaps one of the oldest fugitive on the list.

Other than Satinderjt Singh aka Goldy Brar, Harwinder Singh Sandhu (32) of Khadoor Sahib  is other recent addition to the list. He is wanted in cases of murder, extortion, dacoity and other heinous crimes, including drugs.

Indian list carries names like Rakesh Mohan Bhalla, Sanjay K Choudhary, Sajjan Kumar, Arup Nag, Deepak Rangan, Pramod Gusain, Param Pal Singh, SS Sekhon, Gursharan Singh Kaler, Gurmeet Singh, Malkiat Singh, Harmeet Singh, Jagdish Singh, Jang Bahadur Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Shaminder Singh Sandhu, Mehanga Singh,  Vikash Gupta, Ratan Singh, Raj Singh, Ramanjit Singh, Surender Singh Bedi,  Harsahib Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Harleen Kaur,  Surender Singh, Dev Bhushan, Vikram Singh Dhiman and Sukhwinder Singh Bains.

Harleen Kaur of Kolkata is perhaps the only woman of Punjabi descent to figure in the Interpol RCN list.

Most of those on the RCN list have serious criminal cases related to murder, dacoity, extortions, financial frauds, breach of trust, arms and ammunition and kidnapping pending against them.

Red Notices are issued for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence. A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

In case of Nirav Deepak Modi, he has been arrested and proceedings to extradite him to India had almost reached the final stage before he resorted to legal recourse to stall them.

How does Interpol work? How helpful is RCN in bringing a fugitive to law?

Interpol works on joining dots and making links by playing the role of an intermediator.

Timely and accurate intelligence analysis is key to understanding the inner-workings and driving factors of crime phenomena and criminal enterprises. 

Interpol analysts examine a range of data such as sociodemographic information on criminals (for example age, sex and type of employment), and the times and locations of criminal activity. This information can come from our member countries, or external sources such as research institutes and think tanks, and can be related to any type of crime or phenomenon.

Interpol produce intelligence reports for its crime units and for member countries. This helps national law enforcement agencies and policy and decision-makers deal more effectively with uncertainty in the policing environment, prepare for new security challenges, and establish investigative and programmatic priorities.

Interpol reports are generally produced for law enforcement use only, so are not public.