Jhajjar (Haryana), Sep 24 Jailed gangster, Mainpal Dhilla, was released on 12-hour custody parole to marry his Cambodian partner, whom he had met in that country after he fled India using a fake identity before being extradited last year. Dhilla (50) was brought to a farmhouse in the district on Thursday, where the ceremony was held, officials said.
A police officer said Dhilla was brought under tight security to solemnise the marriage. He is out on a 12-hour custody-parole from 8 am. Dhilla will be marrying his Cambodian partner, Meta Chan, the official said. The gangster had met her when he fled to Cambodia while jumping parole in 2018.
The couple then started living together and had children. Three of her children are accompanying her here. In September 2025, Dhilla, a notorious criminal wanted by the Haryana Police, was arrested after he was extradited from Cambodia in an operation coordinated by the CBI in collaboration with the state police and the Union ministries of home and external affairs.
At the time of his arrest last year, Dhilla, alias Mainpal Badli, a resident of Badli village in Jhajjar district, faced 22 cases, including that of murder. He was earlier serving a life term in a Hisar jail after being convicted in three cases lodged in 2007 and 2010.
While he was undergoing the life sentence, he was released on six weeks’ parole from the Hisar Central Jail, but went absconding. He was released on parole on July 17, 2018, and fled the country on August 29, 2018, using a fake identity in the name of Sonu Kumar, officials had said last year at the time of his arrest.
On a request from the state police, the CBI got a Red Notice issued against Dhilla through Interpol on November 6, 2024 and contacted the NCB-Bangkok, which revealed that he had travelled from Thailand to Cambodia.
The accused travelled to Cambodia from Kolkata via Bangkok, the officials had said last year.
The CBI had then immediately contacted the NCB-Phnom Penh and informed the authorities that the wanted criminal was travelling on fraudulent travel documents. Dhilla had set up a base in the Siem Reap area of Cambodia. He was running a nightclub, got married to a local woman and had children with her.
A request for provisional arrest was sent to the NCB-Phnom Penh through Interpol channels on March 26, 2025.
The NCB-Phnom Penh, on July 24, 2025, conveyed the arrest of Dhilla and requested extradition through diplomatic channels.
Cambodian authorities later intimated that they had decided to hand over the subject to Indian authorities. Subsequently, a team of the Haryana Special Task Force (STF) was sent to Cambodia to bring him back, and he was formally arrested after reaching Delhi.
(PTI News)
