Illegal Sand Mining Case: Former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi Questioned By ED

Channi's nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey was arrested in this case before the assembly elections held on February 20. On April 3, the ED had filed a charge sheet against Bhupinder Singh and other accused.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate questioned former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi in the illegal sand mining case in Jalandhar for over six hours on Wednesday night, said officials as reported by news agency PTI.

Channi tweeted to say he was "summoned by the ED yesterday regarding the mining case".

"I attended and replied to the queries put by them to the best of my knowledge. A challan in this case has already been presented by ED in the Hon'ble court. The authorities have not asked me to come again," he posted on the social media platform.

Channi's nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey was arrested in this case before the assembly elections held on February 20. On April 3, the ED filed a charge sheet against Bhupinder Singh and the other accused. The ED has already issued summons to Channi, but still, he was not appearing before the ED for questioning.

According to sources, the ED asked Channi questions about his links with his nephew Bhupinder Singh and other accused. Apart from this, questions were also raised about Bhupinder coming to the CM office during Channi's tenure. He was also questioned about allegations of transfer and posting of officers under illegal sand mining in the state.

The ED initiated action in this case on January 18. The investigating agency then raided the premises of Bhupinder and other accused and seized Rs 7.9 crore in cash. Rs 2 crore was also seized from the house of the accused named Sandeep Kumar.

The ED had said that it recorded the statements of Kudratdeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh (Honey), Honey's father Santokh Singh and Sandeep Kumar during the search. It was revealed that the seized Rs 10 crore belonged to Bhupinder Singh. The ED had claimed that Bhupinder had admitted that he had received the money for sand mining and transfer-posting of officers.

"Further, Bhupinder Singh accepted that he received the seized cash in lieu of facilitation in sand mining operations and transfer/postings of officials," the ED had claimed in a statement.

Without naming anyone, former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted, "My fight was for Punjab and not for sand. Those who ran the land, sand and liquor mafia let down Punjab for selfish vested interests by looting the exchequer. It is either Punjab or the mafia in the present financial scenario! The fight continues."

Bhupinder had appeared before the ED for questioning before his arrest. In the statement, Bhupinder had said that he was involved in mining-related activities, but when the ED started questioning by putting forward the data, he started procrastinating. Bhupinder, Kudratdeep and Sandeep Kumar are said to be the directors of a company called Providers Overseas Consultants Pvt Ltd. This company was raided by the ED in January.