Former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi was questioned for over six hours by the ED in a cash laundering investigation linked to an alleged sand mining case within the state, officers mentioned on Thursday.
The federal company recorded the assertion of the 59-year-old Congress chief beneath the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and he left the Enforcement Directorate’s zonal workplace in Jalandhar late on Wednesday night time.
Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey was arrested on this case by the company days earlier than the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls. A cost sheet was filed in opposition to him and others named within the case early this month.
According to sources, the company questioned Channi, who had earlier skipped a couple of summons, about his hyperlinks with Honey and others and about sure visits his nephew made to the chief minister’s workplace.
He was additionally questioned concerning the allegations of sure switch and posting of officers within the state as a part of the unlawful sand mining operations, the sources mentioned. Channi resigned because the Punjab chief minister after the counting of votes on March 10 because the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept the state polls.
The Congress chief additionally misplaced the electoral battle from each the Assembly seats he contested — Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur. The ED motion within the case started on January 18 after it carried out raids in opposition to Honey and others and seized about Rs 7.9 crore money from his premises and about Rs 2 crore money from a linked particular person recognized as Sandeep Kumar.
The company had mentioned that it recorded statements of Kudratdeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh (Honey), Honey’s father Santokh Singh and Sandeep Kumar through 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 an announcement.
It had mentioned Honey had appeared earlier than it for questioning earlier than his arrest and tendered his assertion, whereby he, inter-alia, acknowledged that he’s concerned within the mining-related actions however took an evasive method when confronted with incriminating information. Honey, Kudratdeep Singh and Sandeep Kumar are acknowledged to be the administrators of an organization known as Providers Overseas Consultants Pvt Ltd that was raided by the ED in January.
The cash laundering case was filed by the ED in November final yr after taking cognisance of a Punjab Police (Rahon police station, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar) FIR of 2018 that pressed expenses beneath numerous sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957 to probe allegations of unlawful sand mining.
In this police FIR, the ED mentioned, it was talked about {that a} crew comprising officers of mining division, civil administration and police carried out a shock verify in March 2018 based mostly on a criticism obtained on the Rahon police station relating to unlawful 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 mentioned.
“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 mentioned quoting the police FIR.
The seized weighment slips having workplace stamps had not been issued by the involved workplace and have been cast. Subsequently, the mining operation at Malikpur mining web site (belonging to Kudratdeep Singh) and the approval of weighment slips have been stopped by the crew, it mentioned. According to the FIR, the ED mentioned, other than Malikpur, unlawful mining actions have been additionally carried out at Burjtahl Das, Barsal, Lalewal, Mandala and Khosa.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”