The City Headlines
Ludhiana, January 18
The Enforcement Directorate has raided the residence of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey in Ludhiana. He was living in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar Ludhiana.
The raid is in connection with the alleged illegal sand mining case. Not only in Ludhiana, but the Enforcement Directorate has raided several locations in Punjab and Haryana.
Several reactions to this ED’s raid are coming up. Congress leader Alka Lamba took to Twitter and said that BJP’s B team was stunned because of CM Channi’s popularity in Punjab.
She also wrote that CBI, ED and IT raids have become a tool of the BJP government during the elections.
CM Channi’s reaction to the raid
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has also reacted to Enforcement Directorate’s raid at his nephew’s house in Ludhiana. He said, “During the West Bengal elections, Mamta Banerjee’s relatives were also targeted by ED. On the same pattern, now, ED is trying to pressurize Congress workers in Punjab, not only the Chief Minister. This is not good for democracy. When the elections are nearby, they remember raids. We are ready to tackle all the pressure.”
Channi also said that this was an “attempt to settle scores of what happened a few days ago.” Chief Minister Charanjit Singh was referring to the alleged “security breach” due to which PM Modi returned to Delhi without addressing a much-awaited rally in Ferozepur.
Further, he said that he was not the Chief Minister in 2017-18 and ED is making an old FIR, the base of the raid.
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As per the officials, Kudrat Deep Singh is the main accused of the case. He had reportedly formed companies with two directors- Sandeep Singh and Bhupinder Singh (Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew). These companies were reportedly involved in illegal mining activities.
In the year 2018, a complaint was reportedly filed in Rahon police station in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. According to the FIR, there were 26 accused in the case. Most of them were truck drivers. Also, the FIR was registered on the Punjab mining department’s complaint. Under sections 21(1), 4(1) of the Mines and Minerals Act, section 420, 471, and 465 of IPC, the case was registered.
