Sand mining case: ED files chargesheet against Punjab former CM Channi’s nephew, aide

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a charge-sheet against Punjab former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew, Bhupinder Singh, alias Honey, and his aide, Kudratdeep Singh, alias Lovie, in the illegal sand mining case under money laundering charges at the special PMLA court in Jalandhar.

The special PMLA judge, Rupinderjit Chahal has fixed the next date of hearing on April 6. The ED has filed the charge-sheet under Sections 3 (offence of money laundering), 4 (punishment for money laundering), 44 (offences triable by special courts) and 45 (offences to be cognisable and non-bailable), of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, against Honey and Kudratdeep Singh on March 31.

The ED had arrested Bhupinder Singh on February 3 ahead of the Punjab assembly elections and it has been mandatory to file a charge-sheet against the accused within 60 days after the arrest in the PMLA Act. Honey is presently in judicial custody at the Kapurthala jail. The federal agency had recovered nearly 10 crore in cash from the possession of Honey and his aides on January 18 during raids at multiple locations in Punjab and found nearly 18 lakh digital pages from their devices. The ED had also claimed that during the course of searches, statements of Kudratdeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Santokh Singh (father of Bhupinder Singh) and Sandeep Kumar were inter alia recorded, whereby it has been established that the aforesaid cash actually belonged to Bhupinder Singh.

“Moreover, Bhupinder Singh has said in his statement during the search that all cash which was seized from his residential premises at Ludhiana ( 4.09 crore), Sandeep Kumar’s premises at Ludhiana ( 1.99 crore) and from the Homeland House Premises at Mohali ( 3.89 crore) actually pertained to him. He admitted to having generated such proceeds of crime through mining-related activities, including clearance of mining files and transfer of officials,” the ED had said.

The ongoing ED investigations are based on a 2018 FIR registered at the Rahon police station in Nawanshahr regarding illegal sand mining. The ED lodged a separate case at its zonal office in Jalandhar in November last year after taking over the probe. The ED has said Bhupinder Singh, Kumar, and Kudratdeep set up a firm, Provider Overseas Consultancy Limited, in 2018 with 33.33% stakes each.

The firm had a turnover of 18.77 lakh in 2019-2020, according to the audit report available on the website of the Union ministry of corporate affairs. The Punjab Police first filed an alleged illegal sand mining case in the matter in 2018. In their first information report (FIR), they named 26 accused. Meanwhile, Honey’s counsel had earlier maintained that the premises from where the ED recovered money did not belong to Bhupinder and were rented.


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