CHANDIGARH: Less than 24 hours after FBI announced a $150,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of India-born naturalised US citizen Manjit Singh Bedi for allegedly defrauding the US govt of $600,000, Punjab Police snapped him up in Jalandhar on Friday.Director general of police Gaurav Yadav announced the arrest on X: “In a major breakthrough, Jalandhar Commissionerate Police has apprehended Manjit Singh Bedi, a fugitive linked to a US-based benefits fraud case.”Bedi, 65, had fled to India after he was accused of the fraud. But in the few months that he was here, he was already facing police charges for allegedly running an illegal travel agency. In fact, the Jalandhar case was registered five days before a US court issued a federal arrest warrant for him on May 21 for violating the conditions of his supervision.PIO converted US welfare scheme benefits into cash: FBIAccording to FBI, Bedi operated Asian Grocery Store, a small outlet in Tacoma, where he allegedly ran a scheme to convert benefits of US govt’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) into cash.Bedi would allegedly swipe customers’ Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards as though they were being used to buy food. Instead, investigators allege, he gave the SNAP beneficiaries cash and kept about half of the proceeds for himself.The alleged fraud took place between March 2024 and June 2025, causing losses of at least $600,000 to US govt, according to FBI.Bedi was indicted for SNAP benefits and wire fraud and was initially permitted to appear in court without being arrested.He was ordered to surrender his passport and remain within Washington state while the proceedings continued.However, according to FBI, Bedi drove across the US-Canada border and then fled to India.On Thursday, FBI added him to its most wanted fraudster list, mentioning that he was believed to be in India, and announced the $150,000 reward in Punjabi, Hindi and English. A day later, he was arrested by Punjab Police from his home in Jalandhar’s Amar Nagar area.