SINGAPORE : Salwant Singh. Wanted by the police here and the Interpol, fled after an alleged $33 million scam but private detectives finally caught him in India.

NEW DELHI : It a sleepy hum of New Delhi's sprawling INA market erupted in frantic activity at 6 PM on Wednesday. Vikram Singh, managing director of the private detective firm Lancers Network Limited, accosted Singaporean Salwant and said: "You are under arrest." "He pushed me and started running," Mr. Vikram Singh told the Straits Times. We chased him through the narrow alleys for almost a kilometre. It was like a Hindi movie.

Salwant Singh wanted by Singapore police and Interpol for fraud it. Singapore, was finally caught by Lancers Network's team of 25 people, who co-ordinated the chase by-hand held radio. But the fugitive's wife, Zuraini Abdul Rahim, who was with him at the time, got away. The agency handed Salwant Singh over to the New Delhi police where he was remanded in judicial customs for 14 days - but his lawyers are now fighting for bail. Meanwhile, a team from the Singapore police is expected to arrive in the capital within a couple of days.

Salwant Singh, 39 and his wife had been fined $850,000 each in 1999 in Singapore for providing international telephone "call back" services without a license - the flat such prosecution under the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore Act. Under a different name, the Singapore national allegedly started the same business again just four months later, extending credit card payment facilities to clients. He apparently raised the bill amounts, which led to the fraud being detected. A warrant was issued for the fugitive, who left for India after the estimated $33 million scam. In Singapore, he faces a jail term of up to seven years if convicted. United Overseas Bank (UOD) which had affected by the scam approached Lancers Network through the Singapore office of Control Risk. The New Delhi based agency began searching for Salwant Singh and his wife who had served as his business partner in the scam.

They discovered that the fugitive had bought two cars in India, had set up a base of operations in Chandigarh, just a few hours drive from Delhi, and had opened two bank accounts in different names. He was a frequent visitor to New Delhi where he stayed in many premium hotels. But it was ambition that gave him away. Salwant Singh wanted to start a similar "business" in India and took out an advertisement in an Indian daily to that effect. Lancers Network's staff noticed it.

"The advertisement regarding the new business which he wanted to set up in Delhi. The venture was similar to the business he was running in Singapore," Mr. Vikram Singh said. According to Mr. Singh, the fugitive gave his residential address in Chandigarh, and a credit card club address in Bombay. The Lancers Network team traced him and put him under surveillance, but had to wait for a faxed copy of the Interpol warrant before moving in. The fax arrived last week. "After receiving the copy of the warrant I alerted my staff and found cut the accused was coming to Delhi on Tuesday," Mr. Singh said. "From Chandigarh he was going to Bombay and Ahmedabad and then coming to Delhi. He put himself up in a five star hotel, but changed hotels later in the day.

Mr. Singh's team followed the man all day, and moved in on him at the market, where the fugitive was apparently trying to buy fish.

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