Chandigarh: The operation to track down and capture gangster Gurwinder Singh was named “Op Shahid” after former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi.
This was not because any of the officials involved were Afridi fans.
It is because Gurwinder, from the Toot village in Tarn Taran earned the nickname ‘Afridi’ on the cricket field for hitting giant sixes like Afridi, while stepping out of the crease.
His cricket career didn’t last long though. Gurwinder soon steppef out from the pitch and turned into a gangster after getting involved in local quarrels. He retained the name he loved on the cricket field even after turning to crime and used it to introduce himself during extortion calls.
The gangster is wanted in about 35 cases, including five murders, besides the accidental killing of a 12-year-old boy. Police describe him as a key operative of the Doni Bal, Mann Ghanshampuria and Prabh Dasuwal gang, linked to the Bambiha and Gopi Ghanshampuria network. A reward of Rs 5 lakh had been announced for his arrest.
The first FIR against him was registered in 2018, following which he remained lodged in Patti Jail for 21 days. During this period, he came into contact with gangster Prabh Dasuwal, who was also lodged in the same jail at that time. This association reportedly marked the beginning of his involvement in organised criminal activities, initially in association with Dasuwal.
The cases against him include murder, attempt to murder, extortion, firing at houses and businesses, and offences under the NDPS and Arms Acts. Police also link him to drone-based smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan.
The first of the five murders he is accused of commuting is that of Rajwinder Singh alias Raj Talwandi, an AAP sarpanch, in October 2024. In March 2025, 12-year-old Gursewak Singh was accidentally shot during prize distribution at a football tournament in Khabbe Rajputan, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said.
Days later, Vicky Chugh was shot while serving langar in Chungh village. Both cases were registered at the Mehta police station.
In May 2025, Jaswant Singh was shot at a farm store in Dubbli village. Gurmel Singh, a Congress block president and former sarpanch of Toot, was shot dead in September 2025. Both cases were registered at Sadar Patti.
Gurwinder left from Mumbai airport for the UAE on March 31, 2025. He continued to run an extortion racket in Punjab from abroad. About 20 of the cases against him for extortion were registered after he left the country.
The demands came as WhatsApp calls and voice notes from virtual numbers of France, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the UAE, the police said. The caller identified himself as “Afridi Toot” or “Afridi Toota Wala”. Demands ranged from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore per victim.
He allegedly targeted commission agents, farmers, dairy owners, shopkeepers, a rice-mill owner, a petrol-pump owner, a restaurant owner, a school-owning family, an immigration consultant and a retired civil surgeon’s hospital.
According to the police, shots were fired at the homes and businesses of those who refused. Officials cited incidents at the Rai Hospital in Patti in June 2026, a cattle farmhouse at Rukne Wala in July, and a house and petrol pump at Dubli in September. The latest case, registered on October 17 at the Harike police station, records a Rs 50 lakh demand with a death threat.
Operation Shahid was an international operation, DGP Yadav said. The police repeatedly intercepted the men Gurwinder sent to carry out his threats. In September 2024, two weapon smugglers working on his directions were arrested at Sadar Patti after one fired at a police party. In February 2025, two associates of Dasuwal and Ggurwinder were injured and arrested after firing at a check barrier in Khem Karan.
The Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) and Tarn Taran police arrested four men with weapons on December 31, 2025.
They were planning targeted firing in the border area at the behest of Gurwinder and Doni Bal. On August 9, 2026, two men were arrested at Mallanwala in Ferozepur after firing at an Independence Day naka. Police recovered .32 and .30 bore pistols from them.
Gurwinder used fake documents to obtain a passport from Lucknow on February 12, 202 it was in the name of “Vijendra Singh”, a resident of Gorakhpur.
In January 2026, the police located him in the UAE,, but he evaded arrest. They then had an INTERPOL Red Notice issued on priority through NCB-India. He tried to fly from the UAE to Mexico via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, but the attempt failed and he was sent back to the UAE.
Gurwinder left for Kenya in April 2026. The police tracked his there through sustained intelligence work. In June, he moved to Luanda in Angola. Throughout this period, details of his fake passport and movements were shared with central agencies, and seven INTERPOL references were issued to countries in Asia, Africa and South America.
He was traced to Ethiopia in November. The police set up liaison with INTERPOL, central agencies, the Indian Embassy in Ethiopia and Ethiopian authorities.
A team of Punjab AGTF led by SP Bikram Singh Sidhu brought him back after they ran the manhunt with the Overseas Fugitive Tracking and Extradition Cell (OFTEC) and central agencies.