Linked to RICO indictment for murder, drugs, guns and cash
by Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First
The U.S. Border Patrol in Alburgh has captured a dangerous fugitive from India wanted as part of an international organized crime investigation based in California, officials said.
Nitish "Lala" Kaushal, 26, is due to appear in U.S. District Court in Burlington this afternoon for his detention and removal hearing to California.
Kaushal is wanted in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on a federal charge of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) conspiracy.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont wants Kaushal held without bail as a risk to flee and as a danger pending his removal.
"The Defendant has no known ties to Vermont. And the indictment makes clear that this corrupt enterprise has substantial ties throughout the country and internationally, including corrupt officials in India," Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Hill said in a detention motion filed this morning.
"The Defendant’s personal history indicates that he entered the United States illegally in Yuma, Arizona in 2022, when he was encountered, received a court date to appear, and was not arrested," Hill wrote.
"Since then, the Defendant has been criminally charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and weapons violations in 2023, for which he was eventually convicted of a firearms offense and sentenced to 60 days incarceration. More recently, the Defendant had a misdemeanor involving drugs in 2026," Hill said.
Kaushal is accused of being a member of the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria Organized Crime Group, a transnational criminal organization that originated in India’s Punjab state, according to the FBI.
Federal investigators maintain the organization is involved in murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, extortion, weapons trafficking, money laundering and human smuggling.
Kaushal reportedly carried out violent acts on behalf of the organization, including kidnappings and assaults, officials said.
He is named as part of a 44-page indictment for various charges.
Kaushal was arrested within a mile of the Canadian border in Alburgh on Thursday. During the overnight hours of July 16, the defendant was believed to have abandoned a vehicle just feet from the Canadian border, Hill said.
An individual was spotted in Canada traveling by foot by Canadian law enforcement before the defendant was again identified in Vermont later that morning. In the early morning hours Thursday Kaushal was identified by a concerned citizen when seen on a security camera looking into the Vermont citizen’s vehicle and going into their barn, Hill said in court papers.
"When the U.S. Border Patrol encountered the Defendant, he provided a driver’s license from New Jersey with a different name before his fingerprints revealed his true identity and he was forced to admit that the name and image on the driver’s license were not his," Hill wrote.
Kaushal was lodged at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, records show.
The FBI’s Albany field office, which oversees Vermont, praised the Border Patrol Agents in the Swanton Sector for their role in locating and arresting the fugitive.
The FBI said it was another example of strong cooperation between federal law enforcement agencies to secure the international northern border from illegal immigrants.
The Vermont Daily Chronicle noted this morning the Alburgh arrest came just over a week after the U.S. Department of Justice announced “Operation Hard Ball,” a multinational law enforcement effort targeting three India-based organized crime groups.
Officials said 37 defendants were charged in three federal indictments, with arrests made across the United States, Canada and Europe.
According to the Justice Department, investigators seized approximately 1,000 kilograms of cocaine, 1 kilogram of heroin, $40,000 in cash and a dozen firearms during the operation.
Authorities also executed dozens of search warrants in California.
Vermont Daily Chronicle said authorities reported that Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, 38, of Punjab, India, a gangster imprisoned in India, founded his criminal enterprise in India’s Punjab state.
The Bhagwanpuria gang operates as a transnational criminal syndicate headquartered in India with members across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. This group includes more than 1,000 members and associates worldwide, and more than 100 members and associates in the United States.
Authorities said in order to expand its power, this group corrupted law enforcement officers in India and partnered with corrupt government officials, including to assist in extortion schemes.
The gang also provided false information to law enforcement officers in India regarding reported crimes. The Bhagwanpuria group used this false information to target perceived rivals and individuals that members or associates believed were cooperating with law enforcement, often triggering baseless criminal proceedings and extortion plots by corrupt Indian law enforcement officers against perceived rivals, VDC reported.
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