One of India’s most-wanted criminal suspects is among eight people arrested in San Joaquin County in connection with a gang-related kidnapping and torture case, authorities said.
According to international reports, Pavittar Singh Batala is linked to Babbar Khalsa International, a militant Sikh group that India lists as a terrorist organization. The Times of India, one of the country’s largest English-language newspapers, reported that the fugitive was among those arrested Friday in California by the FBI as part of an ongoing operation against organized crime.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said the arrests were part of a campaign called Summer Heat aimed at “targeting violent offenders and gang members who terrorize our communities.”
The local arrests involved coordinated SWAT team raids from the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, San Joaquin County sheriff’s officials said. In addition to San Joaquin County, authorities from the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and the Stockton and Manteca police departments assisted in the raids.
The FBI’s Sacramento office posted a message on social media saying it “partnered” with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement team “to arrest undocumented gang affiliates identified during an investigation” with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our partnerships continue to foster safer communities for all,” the agency wrote on the social media platform X.
Those arrested in San Joaquin County were all booked into the county jail on numerous felony charges, including torture, false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit a crime, dissuading a witness, assault with a firearm and threats to terrorize. There was no immediate word on what the kidnapping and torture allegations involved.
There also were weapons-related charges attached to the men, stemming from the seizure of at least one automatic weapon and an illegal assault rifle.
Sheriff’s officials identified the primary suspect in the case as Pavittar Singh, who was identified in arrest records as Pavittar Preet Singh. Besides Singh, others named in the arrests were:
- Dilpreet Singh
- Arshpreet Singh
- Amritpal Singh
- Vishal (no name given)
- Gurtaj Singh
- Manpreet Randhawa
- Sarabjit Singh
The Times of India reported that Pavittar Singh Batala was wanted by Interpol and was being sought by India’s National Investigation Agency, an anti-terrorism government unit.
Stocktonia could not find any mention of him on the Interpol or NIA websites or social media postings.
A man named Pavittar Singh was one of 17 people arrested in 2023 in what authorities described as warring Indian Sikh gangs in Sutter County, the Associated Press reported at the time.