Bathinda, April 11 -- A Bathinda court on Friday sent radical Sikh leader Amritpal Singh Mehron to five days in police remand following his arrest for the June 2025 murder of social media influencer Kanchan Kumari, alias Kamal Kaur Bhabhi. Mehron, who is no stranger to controversy, was deported to India from a Middle Eastern country and taken into custody at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi by a team led by Bathinda DSP Sarvjeet Singh Brar. Mehron stands accused of strangling Kanchan on June 10 last year for creating what he deemed "immoral content" that hurt Sikh sentiments. District police authorities have since dubbed his actions "unauthorised moral policing", noting that Mehron has been deeply involved in religious and social vigilantism for several years. A sustained 10-month operation initiated by the Bathinda police, in association with federal and international agencies, led to Mehron's arrest. State police authorities declined to name the Gulf country that deported Mehron. Bathinda SSP Jyoti Yadav Bains said the identity of the Middle Eastern nation had not been disclosed due to diplomatic reasons. Bathinda police authorities had told HT in June last year that travel data showed Mehron had a travel visa for the UAE and boarded a flight to the country from Amritsar, where he was not wearing his traditional Nihang attire. "It was only speculation that after committing the crime, Mehron had fled to a specific country. We have secured his five-day police remand, and he will be questioned regarding various aspects related to the crime," said SSP Bains. Bains credited the Overseas Fugitive Tracking and Extradition Cell (OFTEC), a unit under the Counter Intelligence Wing of Punjab Police, the Ministry of External Affairs, and other central agencies that coordinated with Interpol for tracking Mehron overseas. SSP said authorities had been working to extradite Mehron from the Middle East, but efforts succeeded after the authorities of the unnamed country deported the fugitive. "Extradition is a complex and time-consuming process. Backed by legal procedures, Interpol assisted us in locating Mehron in the Middle East and he was arrested on Friday," the official added. Bathinda DSP Sarvjeet Singh Brar, who escorted Mehron from Delhi to the city, briefed the media that the prime accused will be questioned to identify the remaining accused in the crime. "Three other accused, Jaspreet Singh, Nimratjit Singh and Ranjit Singh were arrested earlier. Our teams are working for a breakthrough in identifying the last accused in the case. Mobile phones of the deceased still need to be recovered," said the DSP. The fugitive leader's criminal record includes at least three cases related to moral policing, ranging from criminal intimidation to murder and attempt to murder. In 2020, he was booked in Amritsar for vandalising statues of folk dancers on the Heritage Street near the Golden Temple, claiming they violated Sikh traditions. A year later, he was booked in Barnala for thrashing a music producer over "obscene" music. By November 2022, another case was registered in Ludhiana after he flaunted weapons on social media and issued threats to Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. Mehron leads a self-styled radical organisation, Qaum De Rakhe, which observers believe was aimed at attracting community attention. Police said he built "a sizeable following" on Instagram, though his pages were blocked in June last year after he was spotted issuing death threats to digital content creators and making racial comments. Despite his influence, investigators noted that Mehron was never financially independent; his only known employment was a brief stint in retail cement sales six years ago. In 2022, Mehron unsuccessfully ventured into politics, contesting the assembly elections from Tarn Taran on the ticket of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar). Residents of his native village in Moga recall him frequently moving around in a fleet of SUVs, though the ownership of these vehicles remains unknown. He belongs to a family of masons; his father, Baljinder Singh, served as a block samiti member from 2013-18. Baljinder says that despite being born into a half-Muslim family, he and his son practice Sikhism. He traces Mehron's radical shift back to a failed stint abroad. "About 11 years ago, Mehron went to Malaysia through an agent. But after an exploitative experience, he took shelter in a gurdwara, returned to India after four months and turned more to socio-religious activities," Baljinder said earlier....