Chandigarh: Harpreet Singh aka Happy Passia, a notorious gangster-turned-terrorist with links to Khalistani terror group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is set to be extradited from United States to India soon.
According to information, the Indian security agencies have recently received information about his deportation.
Passia, who had fled to the UK on a fake identity in 2020 had entered the US illegally in 2021 through human trafficking routes through the Mexico border and continued to undertake terror activities, using burner phones, was nabbed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Sacramento in April 2025.
The Punjab police had submitted a formal request for Passia’s extradition to the ministry of home affairs as he is wanted in at least 14 cases of grenade attacks in Punjab targeting police stations, religious places and residences of public figures, including the one of senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia in Jalandhar.
Following his arrest in the US, the Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav had said Passia, a primary handler of ISI-backed terror modules, played a central role in orchestrating target killings, grenade attacks and extortion across Punjab between 2023 and 2025. Stating that Punjab police had meticulously tracked all the terror modules raised by Passia and busted them, DGP Yadav said and added that a dossier on Passia’s activities was shared with Central agencies as well as US authorities, leading to his arrest, following which the matter pertaining to his extradition had also been taken up with the Central agencies.
It may be recalled that Passia was also wanted in September 2024 case of grenade attack on a house in Sector 10 of Chandigarh which targeted a retired superintendent of police (SP) who had served as the station house officer (SHO), Nakodar, district Jalandhar in 1986, when four Sikh protesters were killed in a police firing.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had placed a reward of Rs 5 lakh for information leading to his arrest. He hailed from village Passia in Amritsar district, and was wanted in 17 criminal cases registered under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Arms Act.
According to police he was associated with Khalistani militant Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda and was also reportedly involved in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala in 2022.
