February 4, 2022: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Bhupendra Singh Honey in an illegal sand mining case. He is the nephew of Punjab CM Charanjit Channi.
The ED will produce Bhupendra Singh Honey in a CBI court today. ED took him into custody yesterday evening for a day-long inquiry. He was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) yesterday night, as per the sources.
#WATCH | Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) from Jalandhar on Thursday evening following day-long questioning in an illegal sand mining case: Sources pic.twitter.com/6ciwmY1mhX
— ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2022
This action creates speculations as the arrest happened days ahead of the Punjab assembly polls on February 20, and the results will be announced on March 10.
But, the action against honey was already initiated a month ago, while ED seized INR 8 crore during a ride in his premises.
The Enforcement Directorate had said that they found incriminating documents related to illegal sand mining, gold worth INR 21 lakhs, a 12 lakhs worth Rolex watch, and mobile phones were seized during the searches.
Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi said that the same happened during the West Bengal elections. Officials raided Mamta’s family members just before the election to create tension, and they followed the same pattern here to pressurize him and the party.
He said, “we are ready to handle the pressure,” and added he had no link with the case.
This case was based on the 2018 FIR filed under IPC and Mines and Minerals Act, 1957. The FIR was filed due to the “surprise check” carried out by the officers at the Malikpur mining site on March 7, 2018. The mining operations were stopped immediately.
Follow Zollical for more updates.
