Arsh Dalla: A gangster’s shadowy trail from Moga to Surrey

The deception came to light in May 2021, when the Punjab Police arrested one of Dalla’s gang members, who confessed to Lamme’s murder. By then, Dalla had returned to Canada, orchestrating a sprawling crime syndicate from his base in Surrey.

Over time, his ability to exploit legal loopholes and hide behind fake identities became his signature as he allegedly coordinated crimes across Moga and adjoining districts from the safety of his Canadian hideout.

The 27-year-old Dalla, designated a terrorist by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in January 2023, has over 70 cases registered against him in India. With Dalla reportedly being detained in Canada on October 29, the Indian government is all set to seek his extradition.

Police say his network, which allegedly included his father Charanjit Singh and brother Baldeep, thrived on extortion, arms smuggling, and targeted killings, with victims ranging from small traders to prominent figures, both in Punjab and Canada.

Dalla’s reported arrest in Canada came a day after a grenade attack at a petrol pump in Punjab’s Mansa district — a rare and alarming escalation in extortion tactics. It was the second FIR against the 27-year-old Dalla that week and the third in October. An FIR filed on October 23 accused him of making threatening calls to a rice sheller in Faridkot. On October 9, he was accused of carrying out the murder of a Sikh activist, Gurpreet Singh Hari Nau, in Faridkot district. Member of Parliament from Khadoor Sahib and Warris Punjab De head Amritpal Singh, who is in Dibrugarh jail, was also named in the case along with Dalla. But Dalla later released an audio clip in which he claimed responsibility for the murder while clarifying that Amritpal Singh was not involved.

His “arrest” in Canada remains shrouded in mystery. Canadian authorities have yet to confirm his detention, but reports suggest his name has surfaced in a case involving a shooting in Ontario on October 28.

A family of sarpanches

Born in 1996 into a family of sarpanches — both his grandfather and father held the post in his ancestral Dalla village near Moga – Dalla and his younger brother Baldeep went to the tony Sacred Heart School in Moga, where they did their matriculation from the ICSE Board.

Villagers say a financial crisis forced his father, who tilled land on lease, to move Dalla to the village government school, where he studied till Class 12.

His descent into crime began soon after. He was 19 when the first FIR was filed against him for snatching a rifle from a security guard in Barnala in 2015.

Despite this case and another of attempted murder, he managed to obtain a passport from the Jalandhar Regional Passport Office in 2017 following a ‘paper marriage’ with a woman from Rajasthan and, in 2018, left for Canada.

Investigations revealed that Dalla allegedly operated his syndicate from his base in Surrey, Canada, where he lived with his wife and minor daughter.

As Dalla’s influence grew, so did his family’s alleged involvement.

Charanjit was accused of exploiting his son’s notoriety for extortion in Moga and nearby areas. Baldeep Singh, meanwhile, operated as a key accomplice, reportedly handling extortion and crime logistics.

“His father Charanjit and brother Baldeep funnelled the money they extorted in his name through wire transfers. This helped him sustain his network in India and Canada,” said Assistant Sub Inspector with Moga Police, Kiker Singh, who has investigated many of the cases against Dalla.

Police say Baldeep’s cautious use of disposable phone numbers and encrypted communications allowed him to evade police scrutiny for years.

InAugust 2021, Baldep was arrested at Delhi airport while attempting to flee to Canada. However, he got out on bail and, embarrassingly for the Punjab Police, managed to secure a forged passport and flee to Australia in January 2023. An FIR revealed that Charanjit and four others allegedly assisted him in obtaining the passport. Police sources say Baldeep is believed to be in Australia.

They say Baldeep, who lived lavishly while in Moga despite being unemployed, maintained communication with Dalla through untraceable WhatsApp calls, complicating police efforts to track him. Charanjit is at present lodged in the Faridkot jail.

Dalla’s world

Dalla allegedly orchestrated his syndicate of over 300 operatives who executed crimes on his orders, including the murder of Moga businessman Jitendra alias Pinka in 2020.

Police say Dalla got weapons, ranging from tiffin bombs to grenades, smuggled across the Indo-Pak border for use by his network in India. In January 2023, Punjab police seized pistols, grenades, and live cartridges linked to Dalla’s network. Over 60 of his associates have been arrested, with most weapons traced to Pakistan.

On January 7, Punjab Police’s Special Branch apprehended Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi and two others at a checkpoint near Mehna village in Tarn Taran. The three were allegedly found with two pistols, two grenades and 12 live cartridges. Investigations linked them to Dalla, with the weapons reportedly originating from Pakistan. This arrest shed light on Dalla’s expansive cross-border arms supply network.

Dalla’s enmity with other designated terrorists underscores the infighting within Punjab’s gangster networks.

Dalla is at daggers drawn with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which allegedly assassinated his close aide Sukhdul Singh, alias Sukha Dunike, in Winnipeg, Canada in December 2023.

Dalla accused Landa of betrayal, claiming that Landa initially relied on him for weapons but later turned against him. Dalla also targeted the late Harvinder Rinda, alleging that Rinda sided with his enemies and facilitated the supply of weapons used in the Sidhu Moosewala murder.

Dalla’s criminal activities took on a communal angle in December 2020 when a post on Sukha Gill Lamme’s Facebook account — then being operated by Dalla — claimed responsibility for the murder of Manohar Lal, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, as “revenge” for the 2015 sacrilege incidents. The killing was seen as an attempt to garner sympathy from the Sikh community. Investigative agencies linked this murder to pro-Khalistan groups, further deepening Dalla’s ties to extremist networks.

In July 2022, the NIA filed a chargesheet implicating Dalla and Hardeep Singh Nijjar in a conspiracy to kill Hindu priest Kamaldeep Sharma in Jalandhar. The attack was allegedly part of a broader plan to disrupt communal harmony in Punjab.

Dalla’s name surfaced in another case in January 2023 when Delhi Police arrested two operatives linked to the Lashkar-e-Toiba for a murder intended to instill fear and communal discord. Later that year, the NIA declared Dalla a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and as a key operative of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). A Red Corner Notice was issued against him by the Ministry of Home Affairs.