Bedi Arrested in Punjab Hours After FBI Lists Him Among Most Wanted Fraudsters

Bedi was taken into custody in Jalandhar on Friday, just hours after the FBI publicised its search for him. The US agency alleges that he defrauded the government of at least $600,000 (Rs 57,000,000) by misusing benefits meant to help low-income families.

Bedi is originally from Jalandhar district but had been living in the US, where he operated a small grocery shop called Asian Grocery Store in Tacoma, Washington.

The FBI alleges that the store became the centre of a scheme involving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The programme provides food assistance to eligible low-income families, with beneficiaries accessing their benefits through Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, cards.

Describing the allegations against Bedi, the FBI said, “Bedi operated a small grocery store in Tacoma, Washington, called Asian Grocery Store. He purportedly sold food to participants of the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP) through their EBT cards. However, instead of selling participants food, Bedi is alleged to have swiped their cards and given them cash, keeping half of the proceeds for himself.”

The Print reported that Bedi had returned to India in April 2026. The FBI alleges he crossed into Canada before making his way to India.

At the centre of the case is the alleged conversion of food benefits into cash. According to the indictment cited by The Print, the alleged operation ran from March 2024 to June 2025.

Customers with SNAP benefits would allegedly hand over their EBT cards and PINs to Bedi. Instead of using those benefits to purchase eligible food, the transactions were allegedly processed as if groceries had been sold.

The indictment alleged, “Beginning on March 1, 2024, and continuing through on or about June 12, 2025, in Pierce County, within the Western District of Washington, Manjit Bedi, together with others known and unknown, devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud the United States Department of Agriculture, and obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, promises, and the concealment of material facts.”

The alleged arrangement was straightforward: a beneficiary could hand over, for example, $200 (Rs 19,000) in SNAP benefits and receive $100 (Rs 9,500) in cash. Bedi would allegedly keep the remaining amount.

The indictment added, “The transactions caused the SNAP program to pay Bedi for the supposed groceries. For each such fraudulent occurrence, Bedi would split the proceeds with the SNAP recipient,” as reported by The Print.

It further alleged, “Bedi and SNAP recipients entered into agreements under which the SNAP recipient agreed to provide Bedi with his or her EBT card and PIN. BEDI agreed to pay the SNAP recipient a portion of the value of the benefits remaining on the EBT card. For example, a recipient might provide BEDI with an EBT card loaded with $200 (Rs 19,000) in benefits in return for a $100 (Rs 9,500) cash payment from Bedi to the recipient.”

Today the FBI is adding THREE more alleged Fraudsters to our Most Wanted Fraudsters list with @POTUS, @VP, and the @WHFraudTF.

We’ve already caught four subjects responsible for almost $2 billion in alleged fraud, on three different continents, and executed FTOC’s returning all…

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 3, 2026

The indictment also alleged that Bedi used the shop’s point-of-sale terminal to create transactions that appeared to be legitimate purchases.

The case was not simply about an allegedly improper cash exchange. According to the indictment, each EBT transaction triggered an electronic payment from the SNAP system to the grocery store’s bank account. Because those electronic communications travelled between states, prosecutors charged Bedi with wire fraud in addition to SNAP benefits fraud.

The indictment stated, “Each of these transactions caused and relied upon an interstate wire signal that authorized electronic payments from the SNAP program to the Asian Grocery Store’s bank account.”

The alleged profit was also significant. The indictment said, “Instead of providing the SNAP recipient with groceries as represented to FNS, Bedi gave the cardholder an agreed-upon amount of cash. For each occurrence, Bedi typically profited at a rate of 50 cents on each dollar of SNAP benefits redeemed.”

The alleged scheme resulted in at least $600,000 (Rs 57,000,000) in losses to the US government, according to the FBI.

Bedi was indicted in April 2026 on wire fraud and SNAP benefits fraud charges. At that stage, he was permitted to appear in court without being arrested. The Print reported that he was ordered to surrender his passport and remain in Washington state while the case proceeded.

The FBI alleges that he violated those conditions by travelling across the US-Canada border and then continuing to India.

A federal arrest warrant was issued against him on May 21 in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington after he was accused of violating his conditions of supervision.

The FBI also placed him on its Most Wanted Fraudsters list and offered a reward of up to $150,000 (Rs 14,250,000) for information leading to his arrest and conviction, according to News18.

Bedi’s arrest in India is connected to a separate case registered in Punjab. Jalandhar Police Commissioner Satinder Singh told The Print that Bedi was arrested in connection with that case and booked under the Punjab Travel Professionals’ Regulation Act, along with provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with cheating and criminal breach of trust.

NDTV reported that police had received specific information about Bedi shortly before his arrest and formed a special team to locate him. He was intercepted while travelling and taken into custody.

The Punjab Police investigation is separate from the US fraud allegations. Authorities have said further investigation will establish the full extent of his alleged activities in India.