Why Himachal DIG is under scanner after run-ins with ex-DGPs
Himachal Pradesh Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Sanjeev Gandhi, has gone through many ups and downs in his nearly three-decade-long police career. The former Shimla top cop has now been booked by the Shimla police in two separate cases over the last two days.
On Thursday, the police registered an FIR against DIG Gandhi on charges of cheating, forgery and misappropriation of about Rs 2.35 lakh of government funds during his stint as the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Shimla.
He was booked under Sections 316 (5), 314, 318, 336 and 340 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, on the complaint of a police constable Jagdish Kumar, who accused him of diverting his Rs 1.80 lakh reimbursement amount incurred on various official work despite obtaining his signatures on certain documents.
Gandhi, 53, who had served as the SP Shimla from January 23, 2023, to February 7, 2026, has rejected the allegation as false, calling it a “witch hunt” against him. Currently, he is the Managing Director of the Himachal Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (HBCFDC).
On Friday, a second FIR was registered against Gandhi under Section 316(5) of the BNS over alleged irregularities in the use of about Rs 14 lakh government funds allocated for the repair and maintenance of police buildings and residential accommodations.
In this case, said a Shimla police official, “The FIR was registered on the basis of an audit held recently. As per the audit report, financial irregularities were detected in the expenditure of approximately Rs1.28 crore allocated for the repair and maintenance of police buildings and government accommodation for police personnel from 2022-23 to 2024-25. Of this amount, expenditure of Rs 14,07,392 was shown against repairs to the official residence of then SSP, Sanjeev Gandhi, at Southwood. However, neither the state government nor the Police Headquarters had sanctioned a separate budget for repairs to the residence. The works were also not included in the original proposals, and records of prior permission and the requisite approvals from the competent authority were not found during the audit.”
Rejecting these charges too, Gandhi said, “Southwood, the government accommodation, is not my personal property. It is a government property. Moreover, I contested the notice issued to me by officiating DGP Ashok Tewari pertaining to the penal rent and other penalties. The state government put that notice in abeyance last month.”
On June 20 this year, Ashok Tewari had issued a notice to Gandhi, directing him to vacate his current official residence meant for the Shimla SP, also slapping a penal rent of around Rs 1.8 lakh for continuing to occupy the accommodation months after his transfer. The notice was issued under Rule 10(2) of the Himachal Pradesh Allotment of Government Residences (General Pool) Rules, 1994.
Turbulent tenure
Gandhi, who hails from Arki town in Solan district, joined the Himachal Pradesh Police Services (HPPS) in 1998-99. In August 2017, he was promoted to the IPS rank and allocated the 2012 cadre.
He is a law graduate from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. Before joining the police services, he practised as a lawyer in the Himachal Pradesh High Court. His father, Manohar Lal Gandhi, had taught law at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie, which imparts training to the IAS officers.
On May 24 last year – a day after the High Court ordered the transfer of probe into the death of former Chief Engineer of the state-run Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (HPPCL) Vimal Negi to the CBI – then Shimla SP Gandhi, who was then heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Negi death matter, publicly accused then Director General of Police (DGP) Atul Verma of submitting a “misleading affidavit” in the case in the high court.
In March 2025, Negi, who had gone missing from Shimla, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at Gobind Sagar Lake in Bilaspur. His family members alleged a “deep conspiracy” behind his death and sought an independent probe into it.
In his May press conference, Gandhi even alleged that Verma’s office had “links with drug syndicates”, also accusing it of “leaking” the probe report in the “samosa controversy”, in which snacks meant for CM Sukhu while he was visiting the CID headquarters in Shimla in October 2024 were instead served to his security staff.
Gandhi also accused a former DGP of allegedly “planting” an RDX to make a July 2023 gas leak blast case look like a terror attack.
Separately, he even attacked the approach of the Chief Secretary’s office towards the Negi case.
The Opposition BJP had then questioned Gandhi’s press conference, saying the Shimla SP could not have held a press conference without getting a go-ahead from Chief Minister and Congress leader Sukhvinder Sukhu.
Three days after Gandhi’s presser, CM Sukhu sent Verma, Gandhi and then Additional Chief Secretary Onkar Sharma on leave for the alleged bungling in the Negi case. On June 2, 2025, Verma retired as the DGP.
Row after row
While Gandhi was promoted as the DIG on January 23, 2026, when he was serving as the SP Shimla, he faced several transfers in subsequent months.
On February 10, he was appointed as the MD of Himachal Pradesh Milkfed Ltd, only to be transferred to the Department of Personnel just two weeks later.
On March 24, he was named the DIG, Traffic, Tourism and Railways (TTR). However, on August 10, he was again shifted back to the Department of Personnel before being appointed the HBCFDC MD on October 7.
During his tenure as the Shimla SP, Gandhi handled a number of high-profile cases. In February 2024, following cross-voting by four Congress rebel MLAs and two Independents during the Rajya Sabha elections, which helped the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan win the seat, the Congress government appointed Gandhi as the head of an SIT to probe into alleged pay-off in this case. The BJP had accused Gandhi of harassing its leaders during the investigation.
Police sources list several instances of Gandhi allegedly targeting his superior officers – from the Negi case to his bid to highlight “discrepancies” in police recruitments in 2021-22, to a 2023 Palampur case involving a businessman in which he filed an adverse affidavit against an ex-DGP.
Gandhi have denied these allegations. “This is a personal and professional vendetta against me. On October 13, I appeared before the CBI in the Negi case and apprised it of everything that they wanted to know. During my recent posting as DIG TTR, I had flagged irregularities in the purchase of road safety equipment and gadgets worth crores and demanded an independent audit. However, the government shifted me from that post too. There is a set pattern through which I am being deliberately targeted,” he told The Indian Express.
