ED grills ex-Punjab CM Channi in illegal sand mining case
New Delhi/Jalandhar, Apr 14: Former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi was questioned for over six hours by the ED in a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged sand mining case in the state, officials said on Thursday.
The federal agency recorded the statement of the 59-year-old Congress leader under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and he left the Enforcement Directorate's zonal office in Jalandhar late on Wednesday night.
Channi's nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey was arrested in this case by the agency days before the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls. A charge sheet was filed against him and others named in the case early this month.
According to sources, the agency questioned Channi, who had earlier skipped a few summons, about his links with Honey and others and about certain visits his nephew made to the chief minister's office.
He
was
also
questioned
about
the
allegations
of
certain
transfer
and
posting
of
officials
in
the
state
as
part
of
the
illegal
sand
mining
operations,
the
sources
said.
Channi
resigned
as
the
Punjab
chief
minister
after
the
counting
of
votes
on
March
10
as
the
Aam
Aadmi
Party
(AAP)
swept
the
state
polls.
The Congress leader also lost the electoral battle from both the Assembly seats he contested -- Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur.
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 linked person identified as Sandeep Kumar.
The agency had said that it recorded statements of Kudratdeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh (Honey), Honey's father Santokh Singh and Sandeep Kumar during the searches and it was "established" that the seized Rs 10 crore "belonged to Bhupinder Singh s/o Santokh Singh."
"Further, Bhupinder Singh accepted that he received the seized cash in lieu of facilitation in sand mining operations and transfer/postings of officials," the ED had claimed in a statement.
It had said Honey had appeared before it for questioning before his arrest and tendered his statement, wherein he, inter-alia, stated that he is involved in the mining-related activities but took an evasive approach when confronted with incriminating data.
Honey, Kudratdeep Singh and Sandeep Kumar are stated to be the directors of a company called Providers Overseas Consultants Pvt Ltd that was raided by the ED in January.
The money laundering case was filed by the ED in November last year after taking cognisance of a Punjab Police (Rahon police station, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar) FIR of 2018 that pressed charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957 to probe allegations of illegal sand mining.
In
this
police
FIR,
the
ED
said,
it
was
mentioned
that
a
team
comprising
officials
of
mining
department,
civil
administration
and
police
conducted
a
surprise
check
in
March
2018
based
on
a
complaint
received
at
the
Rahon
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,"
he
said.
"Accordingly, several tippers/trucks, porcelain machines, JCB machines etc., were captured and seized by the investigating team. The seized tipper or trucks were also found to be overloaded with sand," the ED said quoting the police FIR.
The seized weighment slips having office stamps had not been issued by the concerned office and were forged. Subsequently, the mining operation at Malikpur mining site (belonging to Kudratdeep Singh) and the approval of weighment slips were stopped by the team, it said.
According to the FIR, the ED said, apart from Malikpur, illegal mining activities were also carried out at Burjtahl Das, Barsal, Lalewal, Mandala and Khosa.