Punjab: ED files chargesheet against former CM Channi’s nephew in illegal sand mining case
Officials said that the chargesheet has been filed against Channi’s nephew, Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, and his aide Kudaratdeep Singh alias Lovie, in the court of Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) judge, Rupinderjit Chahal.
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Bhupinder Singh alias Honey being taken to court by ED officials in Jalandhar (PTI)Punjab’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against the nephew of former Chief Minister, Charanjit Singh Channi, and one more person in an illegal sand mining case under money laundering charges.
Officials said that the chargesheet has been filed against Channi’s nephew, Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, and his aide Kudaratdeep Singh alias Lovie, in the court of Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) judge, Rupinderjit Chahal. The court has fixed April 6 as the next date of hearing in the case.
As per details available, the chargesheet was filed on March 31 under sections 3 (offence of money-laundering), 4 (punishment for money-laundering), 44 (offence triable by special courts), and 45 (offences to be cognizable and non-bailable), of PMLA, 2002, against Honey and Kudratdeep Singh.
Honey was arrested on the intervening night of February 3 and 4 by the ED, and as per rules, the agency had to file a chargesheet against him within 60 days.
The ED had on January 18, days before the Punjab Assembly elections, conducted raids against Honey and others at 10 locations. The agency had seized about Rs 7.9 crore in cash from Honey’s premises and another Rs 2 crore in cash from one of his aides, identified as Sandeep Kumar. Later, the agency summoned Honey for questioning multiple times, before finally arresting him on February 3, prompting Opposition parties to gun for Channi’s head. The ED kept Honey in its custody till February before a court finally sent him to jail on judicial remand, where he remains.
As per details, Honey’s money laundering case is linked to an alleged illegal sand mining case registered at Rahon Police station of Nawanshahr district on March 7, 2018.
The ED had earlier said that Honey has told them that the money seized belonged to him and that he used to take bribes from officials in lieu of giving them their choice of transfers and postings. “Bhupinder Singh has explicitly stated in his statement…all the 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 belonged to him. He admitted to having generated the money through mining-related activities, including clearance of mining files and transfer of officials,” the ED had said.
The agency has also informed the court that digital devices, including mobile phones, recovered from Honey contain around 18 lakh pages of data.
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