India, Aug. 2 -- Hours after Ranjit Singh Gill joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Punjab Vigilance Bureau conducted raids at the realtor's residence in Chandigarh and his corporate office in Kharar early on Saturday morning.

A posse of policemen was seen outside Gill's Gillco Valley headquarters in Kharar, while Vigilance officials carried out a parallel search operation at his Sector 2 residence in Chandigarh.

BJP general secretary Subash Sharma and local leader Tejinder Singh, who were instrumental in getting Gill to join the party, termed the raids politically motivated and alleged it was carried out in retaliation for his defection to the BJP.

Gill was inducted into the party by Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini at...