Punjab: ED Files Chargesheet Against Nephew Of Former CM Channi, One More In Illegal Sand Mining Case

ED officials had stated that they seized incriminating documents pertaining to illegal sand mining, property transactions, gold worth above Rs 21 lakhs, as well as Rs 10 crore in cash during the raid.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey (File Photo/ANI)

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed chargesheet against Bhupinder Singh alias 'Honey', the nephew of former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and one more person in an illegal sand mining case under money laundering charges.

The development comes after Bhupinder was sent to judicial custody in connection with an alleged illegal sand mining case, news agency ANI reported.

Honey was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged illegal sand mining case on February 3 from Jalandhar after a day-long questioning.

He was remanded to ED custody till February 4 after which his custody was extended.

Bhupinder Singh's arrest in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal sand mining had sparked a political slugfest in Punjab amid the recently concluded election.

ED Raids At Premises Linked To Bhupinder Singh

The ED had, on January 18, conducted raids at ten different locations including Homeland Heights which is Bhupinder Singh's residence.

The central agency conducted raids at different places for two days and recovered incriminating documents.

Bhupinder was asked to appear at ED's zonal office in Jalandhar. His statement was recorded in connection with the probe.

"Bhupinder Singh has explicitly stated in his statement during search, inter-alia, that all cash which was seized from his residential premises at Ludhiana (Rs. 4.09 crores), Sandeep Kumar's premises at Ludhiana (Rs 1.99 Crores) and from the Homeland House Premises at Mohali (Rs. 3.89 crores) actually pertained to him. He admitted to having generated such proceeds of crime through mining-related activities including clearance of mining files and transfer of officials," news agency IANS had quoted a document by the ED as stating.

The officials had also recorded the statement of Bhupinder's business partner Kudrat Deep Singh.

The ED officials had stated that they seized incriminating documents pertaining to illegal sand mining, property transactions, cell phones, gold worth above Rs 21 lakhs, and a watch worth Rs 12 lakhs, as well as Rs 10 crore in cash during the raid.

According to the source cited by IANS, the documents recovered confirmed that Kudrat Deep Singh was running two firms and Bhupinder Singh was the joint director there.

As per the agency's sources, the firms are basically shell companies and the ED found a lot of money transactions.

The ED case is based on a two-year-old FIR of the Punjab Police. The Punjab Police had on March 7, 2018, lodged a case against more than ten accused. The money-laundering probe was initiated on the basis of this FIR pertaining to illegal sand mining in Punjab in November last year.

According to IANS, Bhupinder Singh Honey was not named in the Punjab Police's FIR and Kudrat Deep Singh was given a clean chit in the matter.

The Enforcement Directorate found that money was being laundered by the accused and they began probing the matter.

(With Inputs By Agencies)