Handcuffs and wedding vows: Fugitive gangster Mainpal Dhilla marries Cambodian partner during 12-hour custody parole

Gangster's bride meets him in handcuffs — then he returns to jail

NEW DELHI — It was a wedding unlike any other in Haryana's Jhajjar district: a 50-year-old convicted gangster, escorted by armed police, exchanged vows with his Cambodian partner at a farmhouse, then was driven straight back to prison the moment the ceremony ended.

Gangster Mainpal Dhilla, also known as Mainpal Badli, was granted 12-hour custody parole last Thursday to marry Meta Chan, the woman he met while living as a fugitive in Cambodia — the latest, strangest chapter in a criminal career that took him from a life sentence to a nightclub in Southeast Asia and back.

The walk-away that started it all

A resident of Badli village in Jhajjar, Dhilla had 22 cases against him, including murder, and was already serving a life sentence in Hisar jail after convictions in three cases registered in 2007 and 2010 — when he was handed an unlikely opportunity in 2018.

Granted six weeks' parole from Hisar Central Jail on July 17, 2018, Dhilla never returned. Instead, officials said, he fled India on August 29, 2018, using a fake identity in the name of Sonu Kumar, travelling from Kolkata via Bangkok before eventually reaching Cambodia.

Nightclubs, a new family, and a new identity

For years Dhilla remained beyond the reach of Indian authorities. He established a base in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and according to officials cited by news agency PTI, began running a nightclub there.

His exile also took a personal turn. He married a local woman and had children before meeting Meta Chan, with whom he later began living. The couple had children together, and three of Chan's children accompanied her when she travelled to India for the wedding ceremony with Dhilla.

Interpol closes in

But his status as a wanted criminal followed him across borders. At the request of Haryana Police, the CBI obtained an Interpol Red Notice against Dhilla on November 6, 2024. The agency then contacted the NCB-Bangkok, which established that he had travelled from Thailand to Cambodia.

The CBI alerted NCB-Phnom Penh that the wanted criminal was travelling on fraudulent documents, and a request for his provisional arrest was sent to Cambodian authorities through Interpol channels on March 26, 2025. On July 24, NCB-Phnom Penh informed Indian authorities that Dhilla had been arrested and sought his extradition through diplomatic channels.

Cambodian authorities eventually agreed to hand him over. A team of the Haryana Special Task Force travelled to Cambodia to bring him back, and Dhilla was formally arrested after reaching Delhi in September 2025 — ending years on the run.

A wedding on a ticking clock

Back in custody, Dhilla still had a family in Cambodia he wanted to formalise his relationship with. Under highly unusual arrangements, he was granted custody parole specifically to solemnise the marriage.

Released from prison at 8am under tight security, Dhilla was taken to a farmhouse in Jhajjar, where the wedding ceremony was performed in the presence of Chan and three of her children. Jhajjar Sadar SHO Dharmendra told PTI that Dhilla was brought to the farmhouse under tight security for the wedding.

"After the ceremony, he was taken back to the prison." — Jhajjar Sadar SHO Dharmendra

The ceremony lasted only a fraction of the time Dhilla had spent away from India — a journey that began with a life sentence, led through a fake identity, years in Cambodia and an international extradition, before concluding with a brief window of freedom to marry. Once the vows were exchanged, the reprieve ended and Dhilla was escorted back to prison.

(With agency inputs)