Since Jaswant Singh was absconding, the German embassy here forwarded copies of the records of the case to the external affairs ministry in 2008, asking criminal proceedings be initiated against him, the officer said.

The matter was then handed over to Delhi Police's crime branch.

'The German authorities did not have much information about him. We just had his name and place of birth, which is Miani in Punjab's Hoshiarpur area. Information regarding persons with similar names and description who had arrived from Germany over the past few years was gathered. Sources were deployed in various locations in Punjab and people engaged in facilitating immigration were also tapped,' the police officer said.

'After months of investigations, Jaswant Singh was arrested from his house at Adarsh Nagar area. He will be put on trial at New Delhi only as Germany has not sought his extradition,' he said.

Jaswant Singh was at present running a transport business from an office in the national capital's Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar area, the officer said.