Rs 10 cr, Rolex watch, gold seized: ED after raids on CM Channi's nephew

Jalandhar, January 19

After completing raids related to an illegal mining case early this morning, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) declared a net recovery of Rs 10 crore, gold worth Rs 21 lakh and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh from the premises of Bhupinder Singh Honey, a nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and his business associates.

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ED officials said Rs 8 crore was recovered from premises linked to Honey in Mohali and Ludhiana and Rs 2 crore from his partner Sandeep. The raids, which started on Tuesday morning, were conducted at 10 locations in Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Pathankot, among others.

The officials said they completed questioning of all persons, including Honey, linked to the raids early this morning. Business and residential premises of several persons were searched.

They included Kudratdeep Singh, Pinjore Royalty Company and its partners Kanwarmahip Singh and Manpreet Singh, Sunil Kumar Joshi, Jagveer Inder Singh, Randeep Singh, Providers Overseas Consultants Private Limited and its other directors and shareholders, including Bhupinder Singh and Sandeep Kumar.

Some documents related to sand mining business, property transactions and mobile phones were also seized.

The officials said the investigation was started on November 30 last year on the basis of a case registered at the Rahon police station in Nawanshahr under Sections 379, 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

It says a surprise check on March 7, 2018, had detected illegal mining activities at Malikpur and other sites.