Congress Delegation Meets CEC Sushil Chandra Over ‘Politically Motivated’ ED Raids On Punjab CM’s Relative

A Congress delegation, comprising Randeep Surjewala, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Harish Chaudhary, Devender Yadav, Ganesh Godiyal, Pranav Jha, Aman Panwar, and others met CEC Sushil Chandra virtually.

File Photo: ANI

New Delhi: A Congress delegation on Thursday met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra to submit a complaint against “politically motivated raids” by the Enforcement Directorate in Punjab.

The ED had on Wednesday said seized cash amounting to over Rs 10 crore, including about Rs 8 crore from a relative of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. The raids were conducted in connection with an anti-money laundering investigation against illegal sand-mining operations in Punjab.

A Congress delegation, comprising Randeep Surjewala, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Harish Chaudhary, Devender Yadav, Ganesh Godiyal, Pranav Jha, Aman Panwar, and others met CEC Sushil Chandra virtually.

“Politically motivated raids by enforcement directorate on a relative of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi solely with a view to malign and defame the Chief Minister and incumbent Congress Government”, the memorandum submitted by Congress party to CEC read, as quoted by news agency ANI.

Congress sought the intervention of the Election Commission as it claims that these raids are a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

“Seeking urgent and necessary directions to the Finance Ministry and Enforcement Directorate officials and other central investigation agencies carrying out politically motivated raids in violation of Election Commission’s directions/order under Model Code of Conduct,” Memorandum read.

The Congress delegation also reminded the CEC about the Model Code of Conduct violations by the Uttarakhand Government for back-dating and tampering of Government records, and also Representation of People’s Act, 1951, in Uttarakhand, the party stated.

This comes after Congress had urged the Election Commission to initiate criminal proceedings against Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, the chief secretary, and other functionaries of the state government, alleging that they back-dated appointments, transfers, and postings and tampered with official records, violating the Model Code of Conduct.

AAP Attacks CM Charanjit Channi Over ED Raids

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha on Thursday asked Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to present an explanation on huge sums of cash recovered in raids by the ED from premises linked to his relative.

Raghav Chadha, who is AAP’s Punjab co-in-charge, claimed that CM Channi’s nephew had amassed crores of rupees and other assets in the past three-four months, news agency PTI reported.

In a statement, the ED had informed “incriminating” documents related to “illegal” sand mining and property transactions, mobile phones, gold worth more than Rs 21 lakh, and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh were seized during the searches that ended on Wednesday.

From where did this money come, the AAP leader asked as he spoke to the media in Mohali.

It is said that Channi’s nephew did not have this much money four months back, he claimed.

“Only in 111 days (Channi’s tenure as CM before the model code of conduct came into force) if one nephew amassed Rs 10 crore then you can imagine how much wealth was made by the rest of the relatives. And think how much money Channi would have received... And imagine how much he would have earned if he had remained the Chief Minister for five years,” Raghav Chadha alleged, as quoted by PTI.

Punjab CM Charanjit Channi had on Wednesday accused the BJP-led Union government of hatching a conspiracy to trap him in the case of which raids were a part.

He had alleged that BJP was taking revenge after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to return from the state without attending the rallies he was scheduled to attend.

The Punjab Chief Minister had also attacked his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal as he recalled that the latter called it a political vendetta when the son of his brother-in-law was held in 2018 for alleged irregularities in road and sewer development projects.

(With Inputs From Agencies)