ED arrests Punjab CM Channi's nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey in sand mining case

The Enforcement Directorate ED on late Thursday evening arrested Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channis nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey in an illegal sand mining case from Jalandhar after daylong questioning said sources Honey was being questioned at EDs office at Jalandhar ED arrested Honey under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLAED arrests Punjab CMs nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey in sand mining caseRead ANI Story httpstcohyw5D3DvnSED Punjab SandMiningCase pictwittercomlAEnsHLGscmdash ANI Digital ani_digital February 4 2022He is likely to be produced later in the day before a Special Court at Mohali EDs action came around 20 days after it seized more than Rs 10 crore gold worth above 21 lakh and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh from the residential premises of Bhupinder Singh Honey and others in connection with an alleged illegal sand mining caseThe ED had declared the recoveries after it concluded its twoday raid conducted at the business and residential premises of the accused persons and their associates in over a dozen places in Mohali Ludhiana Rupnagar Fatehgarh Sahib and Pathankot The federal agency had also raided the premises of the accused persons and their associates including Kudratdeep Singh the owner of Pinjore Royalty Company and his partners and shareholders Kanwarmahip Singh Manpreet Singh Sunil Kumar Joshi Jagveer Inder Singh on January 18 and 19The raids were also conducted at the premises of Randeep Singh the owner of Providers Overseas Consultants Pvt Ltd and its other directors and shareholders including Bhupinder Singh and Sandeep Kumar The places being searched then included Honeys Homeland Heights Society residence in Mohalis Sector70 ED initiated a moneylaundering investigation on the basis of 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 211 and 41 of Mines and Minerals Regulation of Development Act 1957 in March 2018In the FIR it was mentioned that a team comprising of 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 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 seized by the investigating teamThe seized tipper and trucks were also found to be overloaded with sand The seized weighment slips having office stamps had actually not been issued by the concerned office and were forged ED had said Subsequently the ED had also informed the mining operation at the Malikpur mining site was stopped and also the approval of weighment slips was stopped by the teamAs per the FIR apart from Malikpur illegal mining activities were also carried out at Burjtahl Das Barsal Lalewal Mandala and Khosa On the basis of information available the ED said the investigation was initiated against all the accused mine owners and their associates in order to ascertain the money laundering activities undertaken by them for laundering their proceeds of crimeThe ED suspects that black money was invested in getting a contract for the sand mine The company floated sources say is of very small scale and unlikely to get a contract worth crores Honeys partner Kudratdeep Singh of Ludhiana and 25 others are already booked by Punjab Police and its FIR was registered in 2018When the ED questioned Kudratdeep Singh it came to the fore that the main facilitator was Honey With the Assembly election in Punjab slated for February 20 the timing of raids and arrest of Punjab CMs nephew is all set to rise the electioneering mercury in the State Voting for 117 assembly seats in Punjab is slated for February 20 Punjab CM Channi had earlier termed the raids by ED in January as part of a political vendetta saying Congress party and its leaders will not budge under any pressureThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever