Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder S Honey sent to 14-day judicial custody in illegal sand mining case

Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder S Honey sent to 14-day judicial custody in illegal sand mining case.

Honey is Channi’s sister-in-son, law’s and he is being held in ED custody until Tuesday.

On January 18, the FBI launched raids against Honey and others, seizing roughly Rs 7.9 crore in cash from his facilities and another Rs 2 crore in cash from a linked person named Sandeep Kumar.

During the searches, the agency said it “confirmed” that the confiscated Rs 10 crore “belonged to Bhupinder Singh s/o Santokh Singh” after recording the statements of Kudratdeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh (Honey), Honey’s father Santokh Singh, and Sandeep Kumar.

The ED alleged, “Further, Bhupinder Singh confirmed that he got the recovered cash in exchange for assistance in sand mining operations and transfers/postings of officials.”

Honey was summoned to appear before the agency on February 3 along with various documents, according to the statement.

“In response, he appeared and tendered his statement, in which he, among other things, said that he is involved in mining-related activities but took an evasive approach when confronted with incriminating material,” the statement read.

Honey, Kudratdeep Singh, and Sandeep Kumar are said to be the directors of Providers Overseas Consultants Pvt Ltd, which was searched by the ED in poll-bound Punjab last month.

On February 20, the state will hold a single-phase assembly election, with Channi being named as the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate by party leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday.

On March 10, along with four other states, the results of the election will be counted.

The ED filed the money laundering case in November of last year after learning of a Punjab Police FIR of 2018 (Rahon police station, Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar) that pressed charges under various sections of the IPC and the Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957 to investigate allegations of illegal sand mining.

According to the ED, a team consisting of officials from the mining department, civil administration, and police conducted a surprise check in March 2018 after receiving a report about unlawful sand mining at the Rahon police station.