The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) against the nephew of former Punjab Chief Minister, Charanjit Singh Channi, and another accused person in an illegal sand mining case on money laundering charges. The chargesheet has been filed against Channi’s nephew, Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, and his aide Kudaratdeep Singh alias Lovie, before a designated Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Jalandhar.
The court of Special PMLA judge Rupinderjit Chahal has fixed April 6 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
Officials said the chargesheet was filed on March 31 under various sections of the PMLA against Honey and Kudratdeep. Honey was arrested on the intervening night of February 3 and 4 by the ED, and as per rules, a chargesheet was required to be filed within the stipulated 60 days to deny the accused default bail.
Before the arrest, the agency had on January 18, conducted raids against Honey and others at 10 locations. The agency had seized about Rs 7.9 crore in cash from Honey’s premises and another Rs 2 crore in cash from one of his aides, identified as Sandeep Kumar.The searches and the arrests were made by the ED in the run up to the Assembly polls. Following the seizures during the searches, the agency summoned Honey for questioning multiple times, before finally arresting him on February 3.
The ED, on court orders, kept Honey in its custody till February. He was subsequently remanded to judicial custody and he continues to be in jail.