Chandigarh/New Delhi, May 15 (IANS) Delhi Police Friday said they had a strong case against Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra’s father A.S. Bindra, who was arrested in Chandigarh Thursday for over Rs.9 crore fraud.
Sleuths of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police’s Crime Branch arrested the senior Bindra from his sprawling farmhouse in Mohali Thursday evening for defrauding a private finance company and a private bank of over Rs.90 million in 2006 and 2007.

Bindra, industrialist and father of India’s sole Olympic gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra, was accused of cheating Apple Finance of Rs.43.1 million and IndusInd Bank of Rs.50 million. He was said to have obtained loans on the basis of forged documents and reportedly issued post-dated cheques, which later bounced.

The senior Bindra had taken the loans for his company Punjab Meats Limited. He has also been accused of having sold the land that had been mortgaged to the bank against the loan amount.

On the complaint of the two companies, two cases were registered against Bindra in November 2006 and February 2007 at the Connaught Place police station. Seeing the gravity of the crime, the matter was transferred to the EOW of the Delhi Police for further investigations. A Delhi court May 10 issued a non bailable warrant against him after he continued to evade the hearings.

Bindra, who was to be brought to New Delhi Friday, complained of chest pain immediately after his arrest and was admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Chandigarh’s Sector 32, where he remained in the cardiac care unit.

According to police sources, Bindra had no visitors except his family and they kept away from reporters.

“Our team of doctors is continuously monitoring him as he has complained of chest pain and his blood pressure is high,” V.K. Kaushal, medical superintendent of the GMCH, said.

Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat told IANS: “Bindra continues to be in hospital. We are awaiting discharge orders from doctors to bring him to Delhi and produce him in court.”

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Amulya Patnaik, when asked if the EOW has a strong case against Bindra, told IANS in Delhi that they had verified certain aspects of the case and presented it before the court. “The court has taken action on the report filed by us.”

Patnaik, however, refused to comment about the other accused in the case. “As if now the non bailable warrant was only issued against Bindra.”

Senior crime branch officials in the capital are hopeful that Bindra would be spending some time behind bars. “In routine cases, the accused are arrested first and the matter is investigated subsequently. But in the economic offences, the matter is first thoroughly investigated and then the accused detained only if there is substantial and clinching evidence.”

“In EOW cases, bail is not granted easily,” said a senior crime branch official.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports suggested that the senior Bindra’s lawyers were trying to obtain bail from a Chandigarh court.