Chandigarh/Shimla, Nov 24 (IANS) Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths Tuesday searched the houses of a suspended senior Himachal Pradesh police officer in Chandigarh over allegations that he possessed assets disproportionate to his income, an official said.
“Raids were conducted in the houses of Additional Director General of Police B.S. Thind in Chandigarh on the basis of a complaint forwarded by the home department (of Himachal Pradesh). The department Monday reported that Thind has assets disproportionate to his income. Subsequently, a case was registered against him in Shimla on Monday,” CBI Superintendent of Police (Himachal Pradesh) R. Upasak told IANS here.

He said a special CBI team conducted searches at one of his houses in Chandigarh and another located on the outskirts of the city.

“Since Thind is not staying in his official accommodation (in Shimla), the raids are on in Chandigarh where he is presently putting up,” he said.

CBI Deputy Inspector General Mahesh Aggarwal, who is posted in Chandigarh, said: “We had got a state (Himachal Pradesh) complaint against Thind yesterday (Monday) accusing him of possessing disproportionate assets. Following this complaint, we have raided his properties at Sector 11 (in Chandigarh) and at Kansal village (near here).”

Thind, however, said the case was registered against him to malign him.

“It is just an attempt by the government to malign me. The government is settling scores with me as I lodged a complaint against certain top functionaries of the government,” Thind said over phone from Chandigarh.

Thind, who is facing a number of cheating cases in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, has lodged a complaint against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the Lokayukta (people’s court) of having property disproportionate to his known sources of income. He claimed that some of the properties were not even registered in the chief minister’s name but were bought by him.

He has also filed complaints against CBI Director Ashwani Kumar, who was former Himachal Director General of Police, Himachal Director General of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas and Himachal Inspector General of Police S.R. Mardi, accusing them of indulging in corrupt practices.

The suspended Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was arrested in April on the complaint of Chandigarh-based businessman Ashok Mittal.

Mittal, in a complaint to the police, gave an audio CD as evidence of Thind demanding Rs.600,000 from him for getting his shop vacated by tenants at Parwanoo town in Solan district.

The case pertains to 2004 when Thind was posted as additional director general of police (law and order).

The state government suspended Thind in Jnauary after the CBI framed charges against him in a land transaction case in a Punjab court. He was then posted as ADGP (Lokayukta).

The CBI had arrested Thind in October 2006 in a land transaction case. He was accused of availing loans from different banks by mortgaging the same property. At that time, he was in judicial custody for 14 days.

One more case is pending against Thind in Punjab. He is accused of grabbing land from an NRI on a fake power of attorney.

A senior official in the CBI posted at Shimla, requesting anonymity, said Thind was under the CBI scanner since he repaid loans worth crores of rupees in the land transaction case.

“After Thind had cleared a part of his loans worth Rs.2.40 crore to various banks in one go, the CBI’s suspicion was aroused and the matter was referred to the Himachal Pradesh government. The government expressed doubts while answering the CBI query, resulting in the registration of the case,” the official said.