Amarinder slams Channi on ED raids blamegame: 'Didn't plant money seized from your nephew'

On Wednesday, ex-Punjab CM Amarinder Singh hit back at his successor Charanjit Singh Channi for holding him responsible for the ED raids on his nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey in connection with the illegal sand mining case. To buttress his point, Channi had highlighted that the central agency's action was based on an FIR registered by the Punjab Police during Singh's tenure as the CM in 2018. Moreover, he claimed that the Punjab Lok Congress leader and the Badal family were "jealous" that a person from a poor family became the CM. 

Retorting to this charge, Amarinder Singh stressed, "ED doesn't report to me, Charanjit Singh Channi. Nor did I plant the money seized from your kin. So stop blaming me for your family's crimes. As I always say, the law takes its own course. Something that Congress forgot when they accused me of shielding culprits". This was seen as a reference to Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu's criticism that Singh went slow on ensuring justice in the sacrilege and drug cases. 

ED raids draw Channi's ire

In a surprise inspection on March 7, 2018, officials of the Mining Department, the Civil Administration and the Police Department discovered that sand mining was being carried out beyond the designated area in Malikpur. Illegal sand mining activities were also detected at Burjtahl Das, Barsal, Lalewal, Mandala and Khosa. Thereafter, an FIR was filed at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar Police Station under Sections 379, 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and Sections 21(1) and 4(1) of Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957.

Under the aegis of the money laundering probe based on this FIR, the ED raided the business and residential premises of the accused persons and their associates including Kudratdeep Singh, Sunil Kumar Joshi, Jagveer Inder Singh, Randeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh Honey and Sandeep Kumar at Mohali, Ludhiana, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Pathankot. Several incriminating documents, mobile phones, over Rs.10 crore cash, gold worth above Rs.21 lakh and a Rolex watch worth Rs.12 lakh were seized during the searches. However, the Punjab CM dubbed the raids as "political revenge".

Addressing a press briefing a day earlier, Charanjit Singh Channi alleged, "I have the FIR of the year 2018 in the illegal sand mining case, but there is no name of my nephew, he was unnecessarily detained. He was detained with the intention that he will take my name. They tortured him to take my name."