Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 19 Jan, 2022 12:21 PM
New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday confirmed that it carried out search operations at the business and residential premises of Pinjore Royalty Company, Providers Overseas Consultants Pvt Ltd and others at Mohali, Ludhiana, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Pathankot in connection with an illegal sand mining case.
An ED official said that during the raids, the agency seized incriminating documents pertaining to sand mining, property transactions, cellphones, gold worth over Rs 21 lakh, Rs 10 crore in cash apart from a luxury watch worth Rs 12 lakh.
As per sources, the ED raided the house of Bhupinder Singh Honey, who is the nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, on Tuesday and Wednesday, seizing around Rs 10 crore in cash from his premises.
"The ED has recovered around Rs 10 crore in cash so far. The team has also found few documents which connect Bhupinder Singh Honey with shell companies," said a source.
The sources in ED have claimed that Bhupinder Singh has alleged connection with the sand mafia in Punjab.
The ED recovered a few documents during the raid on Wednesday, which confirmed that a person named Kudratdeep Singh ran two firms in which Bhupinder Singh was the joint director. The firms are basically shell companies and the ED has seized monetary transaction details in connection with them.
On Tuesday, the ED had seized Rs six crore in cash during the raids. Of this, Rs 4 crore was recovered from the house of Bhupinder Singh, while Rs 2 crore was seized from the house of a person named Sandeep Kumar.
On Wednesday, the ED team continued with the raids though the officials were tight-lipped over the search operations.
The ED case is based on a two-year-old FIR filed by the Punjab Police on March 7, 2018, naming more than 10 accused for their alleged involvement in illegal sand mining.
The ED initiated a money laundering probe on the basis of the FIR, which has been accessed by IANS.
The raids have also led to a political debate in poll-bound Punjab, with some factions accusing Chief Minister of being involved in illegal sand mining after the premises of his nephew was raided. The ruling Congress has, however, accused the BJP-led Centre of using the financial probe agency as a tool to score political points.
In a three page letter written on November 8, Tewari said, "I am requesting Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to kindly ensure 50 per cent reservation granted to Mazhabi Sikhs & Balmikis out of 22.5 per cent way back in 1975, is upheld when matter comes up before a 7 or 9-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court when constituted shortly."
The Supreme Court on Monday sought an action plan within 24 hours from the Centre and state governments, detailing steps taken by task forces to stop air pollution caused by vehicular traffic, construction work, stubble burning, power plants, entry of heavy vehicles, dust, etc.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it will also consider the names of some retired apex court judges to monitor day-to-day investigation in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident. The top court also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to upgrade its task force investigating the matter with some high-ranking officials.
According to the officials, now the foreign travelers will be allowed to visit India without a mandatory quarantine. The government's move came 20 months after the pandemic situation improved in the country.
Gurkirat Singh, who was the chief guest at Punjab Day Function held during the ongoing India International Trade Fair 2021 at Pragati Maidan, also urged the Central government for reopening of Kartarpur Corridor, which has been closed since March 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Acceding to a long-pending demand of former Olympians, Punjab Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Pargat Singh on Monday announced to waive the condition of income limit on pension of medal winner international players.
