In a startling allegation involving a Punjab Police officer, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has accused Station House Officer (SHO) Gurinderjit Singh of trying to extort $400,000 from a family in the United States by threatening to implicate its members in a false murder case in India.The allegation surfaced during the announcement of ‘Operation Hard Ball’, a sweeping multinational crackdown on India-based transnational organised crime syndicates, under which US authorities unsealed three federal indictments against 37 accused.Addressing a press conference in Los Angeles, First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli alleged that the Punjab Police officer was part of an extortion conspiracy linked to the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria criminal syndicate.”He extorted a family here in the US for $400,000. He was going to charge their family in India for murder. I think he did actually file murder charges against the family in India until the victim actually agreed to pay money. We have charged him and we will extradite him to the US,” Essayli said.According to the seven-count federal indictment titled United States v. Bhagwanpuria, et al, the Bhagwanpuria syndicate cultivated links with corrupt law enforcement officials in India and used them to target perceived rivals and victims through fabricated criminal cases and extortion.The indictment alleges that in April 2026, Gurlal Singh, a member of the Bhagwanpuria syndicate based in Stockton, California, threatened a victim in the United States before passing the victim’s details to a “corrupt law enforcement officer” in Punjab.Prosecutors alleged that the officer subsequently implicated the victim, the victim’s father and sister in a murder case registered in Punjab relating to the January 2026 killing of a person identified in court documents only as “B.S.”,US prosecutors alleged that the fabricated murder case was then used to extort the victim and his father. During the press conference, federal officials identified the officer as Gurinderjit Singh Nagra.The indictment forms part of a wider prosecution against 17 alleged members and associates of the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria syndicate, which US authorities describe as a transnational criminal organisation involved in murder-for-hire, drug trafficking, kidnappings, extortion, firearms trafficking and other organised crime across India, the United States, Canada and several other countries.Federal prosecutors alleged that the syndicate relied on corrupt public officials and law enforcement personnel in India to initiate false criminal proceedings against targeted individuals, thereby facilitating extortion and intimidation.The US Justice Department has charged the accused with racketeering conspiracy, attempted extortion, narcotics trafficking and firearms offences. The indictment remains an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.