ED denies Punjab CM Channi's allegation that his family was threatened during raids

The Enforcement Directorate has termed the statement by Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi as incorrect in which he alleged that officials of the central agency threatened his family members.

ED sources told India Today TV that “the allegations by the Punjab CM are baseless and incorrect. No threat was given by officials to any person.”

Earlier in a press conference, CM Channi said that the central probe team threatened his family members saying they would implicate him and prevent him from contesting in polls. He said, “ED officials have categorically threatened my family members that they want to implicate me and Congress leaders in false cases to prevent us from contesting the Vidhan Sabha elections. The raids at our houses and offices belonging to Bhupinder Singh alias Honey into money laundering allegations linked to the 2018 illegal sand mining case, is vendetta politics as Honey was not even booked in this three-year-old case."

Further, Channi said, "Just like West Bengal, when there were polls, the BJP targeted Mamata Banerjee’s relatives through central agencies and now they are trying to put pressure on me and Congress leaders through ED raids.”

The ED on Monday conducted searches at over 10 locations in Punjab in connection with an illegal sand mining case and recovered Rs 10 crore in cash from the premises, including the residence of Channi’s relative Bhupinder Singh in Mohali.

The raids were conducted at residential and business premises of Kudratdeep Singh, Pinjore Royalty Company and partners Kanwarmahip Singh and Manpreet Singh, Sunil Kumar Joshi, Jagveer Inder Singh, Randeep Singh, Providers Overseas Consultants Pvt Ltd and it’s other directors shareholders, including Bhupinder Singh & Sandeep Kumar at Mohali, Ludhiana, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Pathankot in Punjab.

“During the course of the search, various incriminating documents related to the sand-mining business, property transactions, mobile phones, Indian currency more than Rs 10 crore, gold worth above Rs 21 lakhs and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakhs were found and seized from the search premises,” said the ED in a statement.

The Enforcement Directorate has initiated the money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar Police Station in Punjab under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957.

It was alleged in the FIR that the team comprising officials of the mining department, civil administration and Police Department made a surprise check on March 07, 2018, on the basis of a complaint received at the Rahon Police Station, SBS Nagar regarding the illegal sand mining.

Consequently, it was allegedly found that several mines were being excavated by various machines and mining was being carried out beyond the designated area.

“Accordingly, several tippers trucks, Porcelain machines, JCB Machines etc. were captured and seized by the investigating team. The seized tipper trucks were also found to be overloaded with sand. The seized weighment slips having office stamps had actually not been issued by the concerned office and were forged,” added the ED in a statement.

Subsequently, the mining operation at Malikpur mining site was stopped and also the approval of weighment slips was stopped by the team.

As per the FIR, apart from Malikpur, illegal mining activities were also carried out at Burjtahl Das, Barsal, Lalewal, Mandala and Khosa.

On the basis of information available, an investigation was initiated by the ED against the mine owners and their associates in order to ascertain the money laundering activities undertaken by them for laundering their proceeds of crime.