Illegal mining: ED arrests Punjab CM Channi's nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey
Jalandhar, February 4: The Enforcement Directorate on late Friday evening arrested Bhupinder Singh Honey, nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in money laundering and illegal mining case.
The ED questioned Bhupinder Honey for nearly nine hours before arrest. However, he could not give satisfactory replies and complained of ailing health, following which he was taken to Jalandhar Civil Hospital for medical examination.
He spent the night at the ED office at Jalandhar. Honey will be produced in the CBI court at Mohali later in the day.
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It is a major setback for the Congress-led Punjab Government as the Assembly elections are due on February 20.
Notably, after completing raids related to an illegal mining case in January, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) declared a net recovery of Rs 10 crore, gold worth Rs 21 lakh and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh from the premises of Bhupinder Singh Honey, nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and his business associates.
ED officials said Rs 8 crore was recovered from premises linked to Honey in Mohali and Ludhiana and Rs 2 crore from his partner Sandeep. The raids were conducted at 10 locations in Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Pathankot, among others.
The ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar police station under Section 379, 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 21(1) and 4(1) of Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957 in March 2018.
In the FIR, it was mentioned that a team comprising officials of the Mining Department, Civil Administration and Police Department made a surprise check on March 7, 2018, on the basis of a complaint received at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar police station regarding illegal sand mining.
Consequently, it was found that several mines were being excavated by various machines and mining was being carried out beyond the designated area. Accordingly, several tippers and trucks, Porcelain machines and JCB Machines were captured and impounded by the investigating team.
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-PTC report with inputs from Patras Masih, Jalandhar
