New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Tuesday raided multiple locations in Punjab, including the Mohali residence of Bhupinder Singh Honey, nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in connection with a case involving alleged illegal sand mining, officials confirmed to ThePrint. The raids come weeks before the Punjab assembly elections.
According to sources in the agency, ED took cognisance of a case that was registered by the Punjab Police in 2018 under sections of the Mining Act and several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating and forgery.
The raids were conducted at 10 locations across the state, including offices, residences as well as godowns of several accused companies, sources said.
“The raids are being conducted in connection with an illegal sand mining case which we are probing. We have information about how the accused mined sand illegally, made profits and then laundered the money,” a source in the agency told ThePrint. “There are several companies and their directors who are being probed. The case is registered under sections of the Prevention Of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).”
“The raids are still ongoing. Till now, we have recovered some incriminating documents. More locations may be raided during the day,” the source said.
The raids have come in the middle of the election campaign in Punjab, which goes to polls on 20 February.
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‘30 trucks of illegally mined sand’
The case in question was registered by the Punjab Police in the Rahon police station of SBS Nagar district in 2018. As part of the investigation, the police had cracked down on six companies allegedly involved in illegal sand mining.
According to the FIR in Punjabi, a copy of which is with ThePrint, during an inspection, the district administration, the police and the mining department had found trucks full of sand that was illegally mined.
According to the FIR — in which Bhupinder Singh Honey was not named as an accused — there were 12 machines that were used to scoop sand and 30 “overloaded trucks” with sand were seized.
The FIR also says that the mining was done outside the designated area and the operation had used forged slips that were not issued by the mining department.
(Edited by Saikat Niyogi)
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