Who is Happy Passia, the dreaded gangster with ISI links and wanted by India, arrested in US?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on Friday, arrested Harpreet Singh, alias Happy Passia, the gangster wanted in 14 grenade attacks in Punjab, in Sacramento, United States.

 

In an official statement confirming his arrest, the FBI said that he entered the US illegally and “used burner phones to evade capture", and was captured by the agency and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Passia reportedly entered the US in 2021 through the illegal human trafficking network.

 

Passia is a close associate of Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harvinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, and is believed to have operational links with Pakistan’s ISI and outfits such as Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).

 

Passia was on the cross-hairs of the Indian security agencies, and had a Rs 5-lakh reward on his head, announced by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He was recently named in an NIA chargesheet in the September 2024 Chandigarh grenade attack case. The attack on the residence of a retired Punjab Police officer, was believed to be part of a broader conspiracy by the BKI, and Passia and Rinda were reportedly the chief conspirators.

 

In December 2023, Punjab Police busted a Pakistan-ISI-backed terror module allegedly run by Passia and his accomplice, which had allegedly carried out grenade attacks on police stations in Batala and Gurdaspur. The same year, Passia is learnt to have associated with Rinda to form terror modules in the state.

 

Passia is reportedly wanted in at least 18 criminal cases in Punjab. Around 16 grenade attacks on police posts, religious sites, and houses of public figures, including BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia, have been reported in the state in the last seven months. Probe has revealed Passia’s involvement in most of the attacks.

India