$20-mn gold heist case: Canada asks India to extradite Preet Panesar

When contacted by The Indian Express about Canada’s move for extradition and ED’s allegations of money laundering, Panesar’s lawyer Damanbir Singh Sobti said he did not wish to offer any comment.

Canada has made a formal request for India to extradite Preet Panesar, one of the key accused in the 2023 theft of gold valued at $20 million — the largest such heist in that country, according to a release posted on January 12 by Peel Regional Police.

The Peel Police also confirmed the arrest of another key suspect in the case, identified as Arsalan Chaudhary, who was arrested at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on January 12.

The Indian Express first reported on February 14 last year that Panesar (33) was in Punjab,  after tracing him to a rented house in Mohali on the outskirts of Chandigarh. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) subsequently conducted searches at the premises and filed a case against him.

Speaking to this newspaper, ED officials said they have not been informed about the extradition request but confirmed that they are in touch with Canadian authorities to link the hawala funds allegedly received by Panesar in India to the proceeds of crime in the gold heist case.

They said the money was allegedly routed through channels such as the music industry, mostly for the production of a film featuring Panesar’s wife Preety, who is an aspiring singer and actor.

This newspaper had first reported on July 23 last year about ED officials claiming that documentary and electronic evidence shows Panesar allegedly received over Rs 8.5 crore via hawala channels after the heist. The suspected hawala operators, believed to have been based in Chandigarh and Canada, are yet to be apprehended.

According to the ED, they have since recovered evidence that shows cash was deposited by various entities in accounts operated by the Panesars and then transferred as investment to the account of M/S Star Makers Entertainment — a proprietorship concern incorporated by Panesar and his wife.

In February 2025, when Panesar was tracked down by The Indian Express, he had declined to speak on record citing “legal reasons”. He is learnt to have shifted to another location, also on the outskirts of Chandigarh.

A week after the February report, the ED conducted a search on the house and subsequently lodged an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in the case.  A register of payments, listing money received in several tranches, was allegedly recovered during the searches conducted on February 21-22.

While the seized documents and evidence collected from electronic devices are key to the ED’s case, the hawala operator, who was traced on the basis of call and message records from Panesar’s phone, managed to escape the dragnet.

Officials said Panesar has been questioned by ED teams on at least two occasions and messages on his phone allegedly yielded “evidence” on the receipt of funds from Canada and Dubai after the heist.

In their January 12 release, Peel Police referred to their probe into the gold heist as “Project 24K’’ and that nine persons have been charged or named so far as “wanted”. Two individuals remain “outstanding,” they said, including Panesar. He is listed as being wanted on charges of theft of over $5,000 and for being part of a “conspiracy to commit an indictable offence’’.

While listing the specific roles of all the suspects in the case, the investigation report of the Canadian police stated that Panesar “was integral (to the heist). He is crucial to this, absolutely crucial. He is on top of the food chain…”

Earlier, Peel Regional Police Board documents on the case had revealed that the specific allegation against Panesar was that he “facilitated” the theft. The Canada police reports describe Panesar as “an Air Canada employee, who searched for and identified the incoming shipment” and “manipulated the Air Cargo system to facilitate the physical removal of the container (with the gold)”.