The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet in the illegal sand mining case against Punjab’s former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh and his aide Kudratdeep Singh at the special PMLA court in Jalandhar under money laundering charges.
Honey was detained by the ED on the intervening night of February 3 and 4. He was put in judicial custody for 14 days after the ED produced him before the Jalandhar Court last month.
The chargesheet was filed in accordance with Sections 3 (offence of money laundering), 4 (punishment for money laundering), 44 (offences triable by special courts), and 45 (offences cognisable and non-bailable) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Rupinderjit Chahal, the special PMLA judge, has scheduled the next hearing for Wednesday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) disclosed in a statement that Honey acknowledged accepting Rs 10 crore in cash for assisting sand mining activities and the transfer of officials in the state. During the searches, the agency also claimed to have recorded the testimonies of Kudratdeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh (Honey), Honey’s father Santokh Singh, and Sandeep Kumar. They seized Rs 10 crore which was later proven to belong to Bhupinder Singh.
The illegal sand mining case
Based on an FIR filed by the Punjab police in 2018 against Kudrat Deep Singh, the ED is probing a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The major suspect is Kudrat Deep Singh, who operates a quarry in Nawanshahr, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district.
According to reports, Kudrat Deep Singh formed the Punjab Realtors firm in order to obtain sand mining contracts. Bhupinder Singh Honey is one of the company’s directors.
In connection with the illegal sand mining case, the ED recovered more than Rs 10 crore in cash, gold worth more than Rs 21 lakh, and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh from the residential premises of Bhupinder Singh Honey and others in a raid on January 18 this year. The seizures were confirmed by the ED after a two-day search of the accused’s properties in Mohali, Ludhiana, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Pathankot.