PATIALA — In a major breakthrough in the crackdown on police-narcotics collusion, the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of the Punjab Police on Thursday arrested dismissed Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Raj Jit Singh Hundal from Patiala, ending an evasion that spanned nearly three and a half years.
Hundal, who went underground immediately following his dismissal from service by the Punjab government in April 2023, was apprehended from a residential hideout in Darshan Singh Nagar. Police officials confirmed that the operation was executed based on sustained technical intelligence, human surveillance, and financial paper-trail tracking.
The Network and the Allegations
The high-profile disgraced officer had been on the run since three sealed Special Investigation Team (SIT) reports were opened by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in early 2023. The reports detailed Hundal’s deep collusion with dismissed Inspector Inderjit Singh—an officer previously arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) in 2017 following recoveries of commercial quantities of heroin and illegal arms.
According to investigative findings, Hundal systematically patronized Inderjit, repeatedly securing key operational postings for him across multiple districts. In return, the nexus ran illicit operations involving:
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Evidence Tampering & Framing: Fabricating recoveries, diluting charges against key drug smugglers, and falsely implicating innocent individuals under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
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Extortion & Shakedowns: Coercing targets into paying large sums of money in exchange for non-prosecution or reduced charges.
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Cross-Border Drug Protection: Shielding high-level narcotics peddlers from scrutiny.
Disproportionate Assets Investigation
Following the opening of the SIT reports, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann directed Hundal’s immediate dismissal on April 17, 2023, along with orders to register criminal cases against him under the NDPS Act, Indian Penal Code (IPC), and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A subsequent inquiry by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau unraveled vast unexplained wealth, pointing to financial transactions totaling over ₹13 crore alongside substantial prime real estate holdings registered in names associated with the former officer.
Closing the Net
Despite lookout circulars, multiple raids across northern states, and red-corner notices initiated against him, Hundal managed to evade capture while his legal counsel filed anticipatory bail applications across various forums.
His arrest comes on the heels of legal avenues running out, with the Supreme Court declining to grant him blanket interim relief and directing him to submit to the jurisdiction of the law.
Hundal has been taken into custody by the ANTF and will be produced before a local court to secure police remand. Senior officials indicated that custodial interrogation will focus on the exact money trail, foreign assets, and any remaining operational links within the police apparatus that aided his prolonged evasion.
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