ED grills former Punjab CM Channi in illegal sand mining case

The Enforcement Directorate questioned Former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi in a money-laundering investigation linked to sand mining in the state.

The federal agency recorded the statement of the 59-year-old Congress leader under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He left the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) zonal office in Jalandhar late on Wednesday night.

The former Punjab CM was questioned in Jalandhar on Wednesday, April 13 for his alleged association with his nephew Bhupinder Singh alias 'Honey' who is being probed in the money laundering case, sources told India Today.

Channi tweeted on Thursday that 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.
 

The ED action in the case began on January 18 after it conducted raids against Honey and others and seized about Rs 7.9 crore cash from his premises and about Rs 2 crore cash from a person linked to him, identified as Sandeep Kumar.

Honey was arrested in this case by the agency days before the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls. A chargesheet was filed against him and others before a special PMLA court in Jalandhar on March 31.

The ED has claimed that Channi's nephew Honey was generating crores of rupees via transfer postings of government officials in Punjab using his political links

ED documents accessed by India Today state that Honey, during his statement before officials allegedly confessed that the Rs 10 crore recovered in the case by the agency belonged to him. He added that he had generated the money through transfer postings and illegal sand mining in Punjab.

"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 crore), Sandeep Kumar's premises at Ludhiana (Rs 1.99 crore) and from the Homeland House Premises at Mohali (Rs. 3.89 crore) actually pertained to him. He admitted to have generated such proceeds of crime through mining related activities including clearance of mining files and transfer of officials," read the ED document.

(With Inputs from Munish Pandey and PTI)

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