In a major breakthrough, fugitive Amandeep Kamboj, alias Aman Skoda, who was involved in 33 criminal cases, was caught in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, by a Fazilka police team on Friday.

“For the past year, an intense police search had been underway, but Skoda managed to evade arrest. He cleverly used a VPN (virtual private network) instead of a conventional mobile network. However, recent developments provided the team with solid leads, indicating Skoda’s presence in Varanasi,” said Ranjit Singh Dhillon, the deputy inspector general of police, Ferozepur Range, who was appointed as a nodal officer in the case.

“For the past four days, the Fazilka police team had been stationed in Varanasi. Today, they successfully apprehended him and will return on Saturday morning,” Dhillon said. “During the operation, the police team went to great lengths, with some members even getting complete haircuts to avoid raising any suspicion,” an official familiar with the arrest operation said.

The highest number of 18 FIRs were registered against Skoda in Fazilka, followed by eight in Ferozepur. Other districts where cases are registered against him are Moga, Patiala, Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib.

The additional director general of police, law and order, and DIG, Ferozepur Range, had submitted affidavits in the Punjab and Haryana high court on February 24, stating that the orders of the court had been complied with and the salary of all jurisdictional police officers of six districts had been attached.

Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav had made DIG, Ferozepur, the nodal officer and the district police chiefs of Fazilka and Moga assisted him in catching Skoda.

In the meantime, a lookout circular was issued against the fugitive and his agricultural land was attached. An award of ₹2 lakh was announced for anyone who gave information about Skoda.

The status report filed by Punjab in court during investigation by the SIT said that Skoda was in touch with senior police officers of Punjab Police. “Skoda was allegedly using two Aadhar cards and PAN cards. He was hand in glove with senior police, civil and judiciary officials and reportedly exchanged huge amounts of money to arrange recruitment, transfers and plum postings in government departments, particularly in Punjab Police,” a senior police official said, requesting anonymity.

“It’s because of his strong network in the police that he managed to evade arrest for so long,” the official said.

“His interrogation may reveal names of high-ups who indulged in malpractices in connivance with Skoda for two decades. All such corrupt elements will have to face the music according to the law,” he added.