Wanted gangster Gurpreet Singh, alias Goldy Dhillon, has been detained by security agencies in Madrid, Spain, following an international operation involving the Punjab Police’s Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), central intelligence agencies and Chandigarh Police. Indian authorities have now initiated the process to bring him back through deportation or extradition, although formal confirmation from the Spanish authorities is still awaited.
Dhillon has been on the radar of Indian agencies for multiple criminal cases. Investigators had been tracking his movements overseas for a considerable period before Spanish authorities took him into custody. Police believe his detention marks a significant development in efforts to crack down on organised crime networks being operated from abroad, though the legal process to secure his return to India could take time, TNIE reports.
A key breakthrough in multiple criminal cases
Dhillon is wanted in the murder of Janaki Das, a cashier at Shri Kumar Medical Hall in Sector 11, Chandigarh, who was shot dead in a targeted attack on June 13. The killing had sent shockwaves across the city. Investigators also linked him to a separate case in which operatives allegedly acting on his instructions were travelling to Chandigarh to receive a fresh target before they were intercepted near Mullanpur. Police recovered a foreign-made C47 pistol and a .32 bore pistol from them.
Apart from the Chandigarh murder case, Dhillon is accused of threatening AAP MLA Neena Mittal and has also been linked to several firing incidents in Canada, according to investigators. Officials believe these cases point to the reach of a criminal network that extended well beyond Punjab.
Overseas network under scanner
Dhillon, who is also known as Goldi Rajpura, is a close associate of Canada-based gangster Satinderjit Singh, alias Goldy Brar, who has been designated a terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs. A senior police officer clarified that Dhillon and Brar are two different individuals. However, both have been named as co-conspirators in a National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheet related to an extortion-cum-firing case targeting a businessman in Chandigarh's Sector 5. Both remain absconding in that case.
According to investigators, Dhillon fled India in 2022 and later strengthened his network across Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi-NCR while operating from overseas. Police alleged that he ran multiple extortion and targeted killing modules across Punjab for more than a year. In one case, two operatives allegedly assigned to carry out targeted killings in Mohali and Rajpura were arrested with five pistols and a cache of intoxicant tablets.
Wanted Gangster Goldy Dhillon Detained In Spain; India Begins Extradition Process
