Mainpal Dhilla, also known as Mainpal Badli, a notorious criminal from Haryana who had been on the run for seven years, was brought back to India from Cambodia on Tuesday. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Wednesday that the repatriation was carried out with the support of Haryana Police, the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Dhilla had been convicted in 2013 for murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, and criminal conspiracy in connection with a 2007 FIR at Sadar Bahadurgarh police station in Jhajjar. He had also been convicted in two other cases earlier. While serving a life sentence at Hisar Central Jail, he was granted six weeks’ parole on July 17, 2018. But he failed to return on August 29, 2018, and went underground, the CBI said.
In November 2024, the CBI issued a Red Corner Notice for Dhilla through Interpol at the request of the Haryana Police. Investigations later disclosed that he had moved from Thailand to Cambodia and entered the country with a fake passport under the name Sonu Kumar. In March 2025, a provisional arrest request was sent to Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. On July 24, 2025, Cambodian authorities confirmed his arrest. They asked for a formal extradition request through diplomatic channels and informed India of their decision to hand him over.
A Haryana Police team then went to Cambodia and successfully brought Dhilla back to India on Tuesday. The CBI, which acts as India’s National Central Bureau for Interpol, coordinated the process through its BHARATPOL platform that connects law enforcement agencies across the country. The CBI said in the past few years, more than 100 fugitives have been returned to India through similar international efforts.
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