Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey was apprehended by the Enforcement Directorate. ED officers nabbed Bhupinder Singh Honey on Thursday evening in connection with a multi-crore illegal sand mining case.
Honey was transferred to the ED office in Jalandhar following his medical at the Civil Hospital, and he will likely be produced in front of a special court in Mohali. The agency had summoned him for interrogation on Thursday.
The ED had confiscated more than Rs 10 crore in cash, gold worth more than Rs 21 lakh, and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh from the residential premises of Bhupinder Singh Honey and others in connection with the alleged illegal sand mining case in a raid conducted on January 18. After a two-day search on the properties of people accused in over a dozen areas in Mohali, Ludhiana, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Pathankot, the ED confirmed the seizures.
The ED is investigating a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on an FIR registered by the Punjab police in 2018 against one Kudrat Deep Singh. Kudrat Deep Singh, who owns a quarry in Nawanshahr, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, is said to be the main suspect.
According to sources, Kudrat Deep Singh established a company named Punjab Realtors in order to get sand mining contracts. One of the company’s directors is Bhupinder Singh Honey.
Black money was allegedly used to gain the sand mining contract, according to the ED. According to sources, the newly created business is quite modest and is unlikely to secure a transaction worth many crores.
It is a significant blow for the Congress-led Punjab government as it prepares for the Assembly elections. CM Channi, on the other hand, has rejected the claims against his cousin as a political vengeance ahead of the Punjab state assembly elections.