Illegal mining case: ED recovers Rs 6cr in cash during raids in Punjab
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Jan, 2022 11:54 AM
New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday recovered Rs 6 crore in cash during the raids that were carried out in Punjab in connection with an illegal mining case.
A source said Rs 4 crore in cash was recovered from the house of Bhupinder Singh Honey, the nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Another Rs 2 crore was recovered from the house of one Sandeep Kumar.
The raids were conducted by the ED at more than 10 locations including Bhupinder Singh Honey's home.
The ED case is on the basis of a two-year-old FIR.
Punjab Police had on March 7, 2018, lodged a case against more than 10 persons.
The ED had initiated a money laundering probe on the basis of this FIR pertaining to illegal sand mining in Punjab.
The FIR has been accessed by IANS which was filed under several sections of IPC.
The ED found that money was being laundered by the accused involved in the case and they started probing the matter.
A source said that ED team which conducted raids at different premises including of residence of Bhupinder Singh Honey which is at Homeland Heights, went on till late Tuesday evening.
The ED team reached several premises early Tuesday mornings. At the home of Punjab CM's nephew, no one was allowed to leave or enter the house. The ED scanned various documents and computers.
The raids have also drawn political reactions. The political parties had already accused the Punjab Chief Minister many times over illegal mining in his own constituency.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted several times regarding the ongoing illegal sand mining racket.
The police were already looking into the matter for more than two years. And on the basis of the local police probe, the ED initiated their money laundering probe.
As of now, the ED has not made any statement regarding the raids.
During the raids, the ED recorded the statement of those who were present at Honey's house.
A large number of people had gathered outside the house and the police personnel were called to avoid any untoward incident.
She reached Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, by air in the morning from where she headed straight to her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's cottage located amid forests of pine and cedar on the suburbs of the Himachal Pradesh capital.
Channi took oath of office along with his two deputies -- one a Jat Sikh and another belonging to the Hindu community -- at a simple ceremony here in the Punjab capital that was delayed for 20 minutes owing to the late arrival of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangthan, has underlined the need to intensify the ongoing farmers' agitation and said that there was a need to shore up strength at the Delhi borders.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma told IANS that to control infighting in its party state unit, the Congress leadership made Channi ji (Charanjit Singh Channi) the Punjab Chief Minister but insulted the Dalit community by not allowing him to lead the party in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
The government and drug controller's office will have to take a decision on the third booster dose based on data and cases as times goes on and including how effective the vaccine is on the Delta virus variant, he added.
