Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a charge sheet against the nephew of former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in an illegal sand mining case. The agency also named one more person in the charge sheet filed on March 31 under money laundering charges in the court of Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) judge, Rupinderjit Chahal, in Punjab. The court has fixed April 6 as the next date of hearing in the case.
The federal agency has charged Sections 3 (offense of money laundering), 4 (punishment for money laundering), 44 (offenses triable by special courts), and 45 (offenses to be cognizable and non-bailable), of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 against Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey and his associate Kudratdeep Singh.
Honey was arrested on the intervening night of February 3 and 4 by the ED, and as per rules, the agency had to file a charge sheet against him within 60 days. The ED had on January 18, days before the Punjab Assembly elections, conducted raids against Honey and others at 10 locations.
ED has also seized more than Rs 10 crore, gold worth above 21 lakh, and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh from the residential premises of alleged land mafia Honey, and others in connection with an alleged illegal sand mining case. The ED had declared the recoveries after it concluded its two-day 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.
ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar Police Station under sections 379, 420, 465, 467, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 21(1) and 4(1) of Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957 in March 2018.
Also read: Punjab CM Channi's nephew sent to 14-day judicial custody in illegal sand mining case
