Though the ED is tight-lipped, it is learnt that Channi was questioned for several hours at its zonal office in Jalandhar on Wednesday afternoon.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was quizzed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials for several hours in an illegal sand mining case in Jalandhar on Wednesday. ED officials confirmed on Thursday morning, 14 April, that they had questioned Channi on Wednesday and may summon him again.
“Ex-Punjab CM Channi was questioned by ED for over 5 hours, yesterday in connection with an alleged illegal sand mining case. He was questioned in connection with his relationship with his nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey, who was arrested by the agency,” ED officials said.
Though the ED is tight-lipped, it is learnt that Channi was questioned for several hours at its zonal office in Jalandhar on Wednesday afternoon. He was summoned by the ED a few weeks ago, too, but Channi didn’t appear before the agency at that time.
Meanwhile, Channi confirmed the same on his official Twitter account.
Channi tweeted, “I was summoned by the ED yesterday regarding the mining case. I attended and replied to the queries put by them to the best of my knowledge. A challan in this case has already been presented by ED in the court. The authorities have not asked me to come again.”
After Channi’s appearance before the ED, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted, “My fight was for Punjab and not for sand … Those who ran the land, sand and liquor mafia let down Punjab for selfish vested interests by looting the exchequer…. It is either Punjab or the Mafia in the present financial scenario! The fight continues…”
The federal agency had conducted raids against Channi’s nephew, Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, and others in the same case in nearly ten places on 18 January, as the state was preparing for the Assembly elections.
Following this, Bhupinder Singh was arrested on the intervening night of 3-4 February. On 31 March, the ED filed a chargesheet against Bhupinder Singh. The federal agency recovered Rs 10 crore during the raids. Honey admitted that the cash seized from him was earned from illegal sand mining and through kickbacks for transfers and postings.
The ED’s probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is based on a 2018 case registered by Punjab Police for illegal sand mining in the border state. The central agency had lodged an ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report), an FIR, at its zonal office in Jalandhar in November last year after taking over the probe.
