Punjab Police have arrested a 65-year-old Jalandhar resident who was recently placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) list of most-wanted fraudsters for his alleged involvement in a US government benefits fraud worth around $6,00,000 (approximately ₹5.6 crore).
Manjit Singh Bedi in the custody of Jalandhar police on Friday.
(HT Photo)The accused, Manjit Singh Bedi, fled the United States in April this year and reached India via Canada to evade legal proceedings.
The FBI had announced a reward of up to $1,50,000 ( ₹1.4 crore) for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
According to the police, instead of supplying food items against the benefits available on the cards, Bedi allegedly swiped the customers’ EBT cards, gave them around half of the benefit amount in cash and retained the remaining amount for himself.
Punjab Police have arrested a 65-year-old Jalandhar resident who was recently placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) list of most-wanted fraudsters for his alleged involvement in a US government benefits fraud worth around $6,00,000 (approximately ₹5.6 crore). Manjit Singh Bedi in the custody of Jalandhar police on Friday. (HT Photo)
The accused, Manjit Singh Bedi, fled the United States in April this year and reached India via Canada to evade legal proceedings. The FBI had announced a reward of up to $1,50,000 ( ₹1.4 crore) for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
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Bedi's scam with US government's SNAP Punjab director general of police Gaurav Yadav said Bedi had been placed on the FBI’s wanted list in connection with an alleged fraud involving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the US.
Jalandhar commissioner of police Satinder Singh said Bedi was allegedly operating an Asian grocery store in Tacoma, Washington, where customers used government-issued electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards to access SNAP benefits.
According to the police, instead of supplying food items against the benefits available on the cards, Bedi allegedly swiped the customers’ EBT cards, gave them around half of the benefit amount in cash and retained the remaining amount for himself.
Police said the alleged scheme resulted in a loss of approximately $600,000 to the US government.
