Inside story of why ED arrested Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew Honey

The Jalandhar team of the Enforcement Directorate did a lot of homework before calling Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew Bhupendra Singh Honey for questioning. A list of 70 questions was prepared. It was certain that if the questions were not answered, he would be arrested. If all the questions would be answered correctly and the ED team was satisfied then there would be no arrest. The team was taking extra precautions as the matter was high profile and was happening amidst the assembly elections in Punjab. 

The ED called Honey at its Jalandhar office for questioning at around 6 pm. The interrogation went on for five hours. In the beginning, after the normal conversation, as soon as the process of questioning started, Honey started being evasive. 

Honey caught off-guard 

As soon as the ED's interrogation team started questioning Honey, he was able to answer the first three questions properly, sources said, adding that he started being evasive thereafter. He was unable to respond to the source of the cash recovered from his residence during the raid. Sensing that Honey was not cooperating, ED officials started the process of arrest by taking him into custody. 

Also Read: ED arrests CM Channi's nephew in illegal sand mining case ahead of Punjab Election 2022

Medical test conducted before arrest

A medical test was carried out post-midnight before he was formally arrested. Dr Rohit Sharma of the Jalandhar Civil Hospital informed that the ED team had come to the hospital late in the night to get his medical done. After all the medical formalities were completed, Honey was arrested and the information was shared with the senior officers. The team had been taking extra precautions in the matter. Even the information about Honey being called in for questioning was also not allowed to leak. 

Family informed in the night

According to ED sources, the information about Honey's arrest was given to the family in the night itself. The family was also told that he would be presented before a judge in the Mohali court in the morning. The team will now seek his remand for further interrogation. Along with this, preparations are also being made by the ED team for more arrests. It also includes the names of some of Honey's associates. 

Honey was raided on January 19

On January 19, the ED team raided several places in Ludhiana, Mohali, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Pathankot. During the raid, expensive watches worth Rs 12 lakh, jewellery worth Rs 21 lakh and currency worth Rs 10 crore were also recovered. During this operation, the houses of Honey's associates Kudrat Deep Singh, Kanwar Maheep Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sunil Kumar Joshi, Jagbir Inder Singh and Randeep Singh were also searched.

• Bhupendra Singh Honey
• Channi's nephew
• Charanjit Singh Channi
• ED questioning
• Enforcement Directorate
• Punjab Election 2022
• illegal sand mining