Nabha jailbreak conspirator Romi extradited from Hong Kong, to be brought to Punjab
Apart from the 2016 jailbreak case, Romi, against whom a red-corner notice was issued, is wanted in Arms Act and credit card forgery cases in Punjab.
6 min read
Ramanjit Singh aka Romi with Punjab police officals .on arrival in Delhi. (Express Photo)More than six years after proceedings were initiated to bring him back to Punjab, Ramanjit Singh aka Romi, the key conspirator in the 2016 Nabha jailbreak, was extradited from Hong Kong on Thursday.
A three-member Punjab police team, which included Assistant Inspector General Harvinder Singh Virk and Anti-Gangster Task Force Deputy Superintendent of Police Bikramjit Singh Brar, has taken Romi, a permanent resident of Hong Kong, into custody and is bringing him to India on a flight.
A police team led by AIG Gurmeet Singh Chauhan has reached Delhi Airport to bring Romi, 35, to Punjab after the flight lands there in the evening.
Chauhan said that apart from the Nabha jailbreak case, Romi, against whom a red-corner notice was issued, was wanted in Arms Act and credit card forgery cases in Punjab.
In a post on X, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said, “Mastermind of 2016 Nabha Jailbreak, Ramanjit Singh @ Romi, Extradited to #India from #HongKong! After tireless efforts by @PunjabPoliceInd, Romi, the key conspirator, is being brought back today to face justice. He was in touch with #ISI and other escaped prisoners, including Harminder Singh Mintu and Kashmir Singh Galwaddi of the Khalistan Liberation Force (#KLF).”
The DGP also wrote, “Anti Gangster Task Force (#AGTF) Punjab is en route to bring Romi back. We thank the Hong Kong authorities, the CBI, Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and all other central agencies as part of this international cooperation.” He also underscored that “relentless pursuit of justice” led to issuance of Look Out Circular (LOC) & Red Corner Notice (RCN); initiating extradition process in 2018 under MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty) with Hong Kong government; and “robust presentation to Hong Kong’s Department of Justice and Hon’ble Courts”.
Romi had been in detention in Hong Kong since 2018 after his arrest in connection with a robbery in Choi Hung Estate, Kowloon. Hong Kong Eastern Court Magistrate Norton Pang Leung-ting had twice ruled that Romi could be extradited to India —first in November 2019 and then in July 2022—to face trial subject to the approval of Hong Kong’s chief executive.
In the 2022 ruling, the court said that Romi could face trial on 20 charges, including escape from lawful custody, possessing firearms and assisting an offender. In August 2023, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) high court dismissed a habeas corpus petition where Romi challenged his extradition on the grounds of suspected persecution, among other things.
Dismissing the habeas corpus application, the court observed, “His evidence that he was subject to arbitrary arrest is starkly contradicted by the evidence concerning his arrest in the first case (possession of firearms and ammunition, and stolen credit cards) which evidence was not challenged on the application. An arrest in those circumstances seems far from arbitrary, and points to the request for his surrender being for the purposes of prosecution on the relevant offences, not persecution.”
A Punjab police official said the extradition of Romi to India was finally cleared on August 6 by the chief executive, following which a police team from the state left for Hong Kong to bring him.
A post on Wednesday on the purported Facebook account of ‘Ramanjit Singh Romi’, on the other hand, claimed that Romi had voluntarily surrendered and that the extradition was subject to “assurances” from the Government of India, which included that “Punjab police will not seek police remand, and he will be taken straight to Judicial Custody”.
“Ramanjit Singh Romi has given up the legal challenge to the request for his extradition and voluntarily surrendered to be extradited to India. After receiving assurances from The Government of India. HKSAR government has allowed his extradition request and Romi will be arriving India in the afternoon of 22 August 2024 (Thursday),” the Facebook post read.
The post added, “It has been noted that Indian Authorities have assured the authorities in Hong Kong that; Punjab police will not seek remand, and he will be taken straight to Judicial Custody; Romi will only be tried on offences for which his extradition was sought from HKSAR government in the first place; The remand time Romi served in Hong Kong will be counted towards any final sentence he may receive in the event of conviction; and he will be treated as a normal inmate pending trial.”
“All eyes are now on The Government of India now to see if they will honor their commitments made with the Hong Kong Government,” the post further read.
When asked about the riders mentioned in the post, AIG Gurmeet Singh Chauhan told The Indian Express, “We are yet to see the documentation of the extradition and could comment only after going through the official documents.”
Romi was arrested in Punjab in June 2016 in a case registered that year at the Kotwali Nabha police station following the recovery of weapons and fake credit cards with skimmed data from dormant accounts of different banks. He got bail in August 2016 and fled to Hong Kong after violating bail conditions.
On November 27, 2016, a group of criminals fired indiscriminately at the jail, resulting in six most wanted criminals—gangsters Harjinder Singh alias Vicky Gounder, Neeta Deol, Gurpreet Sekhon and Aman Dhotian, and militants Harminder Mintoo and Kashmir Singh—escaping from the jail.
While Sekhon, Deol and Dhotian were rearrested later, Gounder was killed in a police encounter. Another escapee, Khalistan Liberation Force militant Harminder Singh Mintoo was rearrested from Delhi but he died later of cardiac arrest in the prison. Kashmir Singh is still absconding and was declared a proclaimed offender.
The Patiala court of Special Judge H S Grewal in March last year held 22 accused guilty and acquitted six others in the Nabha jailbreak case.
As per the police, Romi was the main conspirator in the attack on the maximum-security Nabha jail and had provided financial and logistical support to the escapees after the jailbreak.
A resident of Bangi Ruldu village in Bathinda district, Romi hatched the jailbreak conspiracy after he developed links with many criminals and militants in Nabha jail, where he was lodged following his arrest in June 2016, as per police.
Investigators say Romi’s involvement had also “figured in the cases of targeted sectarian killings in Punjab and that he was also involved in drugs and weapons smuggling”.
Romi was allegedly acting as a “communication hub” and a link between Punjab gangsters and ISI-backed Pak-based terrorists. He coordinated their activities through WhatsApp, VoIP platforms and social media, according to investigators.
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