The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Bhupinder Singh ‘Honey’, nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal sand mining in the border state, officials said on Friday. The probe agency took Honey into custody yesterday evening and will produce him in a CBI court today.
Honey is the son of Channi’s sister-in-law. On January 18, the agency had raided his premises and claimed to have seized about Rs 8 crore cash. The arrest comes just days ahead of polling for the 117-member Punjab legislative assembly. Voting will be held on February 20, while the results will be out on March 10.
Last month, ED had seized ₹ 8 crores during a raid at premises belonging to Honey. The raids were made in connection with the illegal sand-mining operations in Punjab.
In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate had said “incriminating” papers related to the “illegal” sand mining and property transactions, mobile phones, gold worth more than ₹ 21 lakh, and a Rolex watch worth ₹ 12 lakh were also detained during the searches.
Reacting to the raids, Mr. Channi had told reporters that relatives of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were raided during the assembly polls in that state and the “same pattern” is being followed by the ED in Punjab to “pressure” him, his ministers and Congress party members.
The case is based on a 2018 FIR at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar police station that pressed charges under the Indian Penal Code and Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957.
In this police FIR, the ED said, it was mentioned that a team of officials from the mining department, civil administration, and police made a “surprise check” at the Malikpur mining site on March 7, 2018, based on a complaint received at Rahon, SBS Nagar police station, regarding illegal sand mining.
