Firm set up by Punjab CM Channi’s nephew used to launder money, says ED
India Today
The ED claimed that Bhupinder Singh Honey had admitted that cash recovered during raids in Ludhiana “pertained to him” and was “generated through mining related activities including clearance of files and transfer of officials”.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey allegedly incorporated a firm with others to launder crores of rupees which he generated through illegal sand mining and other activists, claimed the Enforcement Directorate.
According to officials, Punjab resident Kudratdeep Singh was involved in illegal sand mining at several places in the state. After an FIR was lodged against him in 2017, the next year, a company by the name Providers Overseas Consultants Private Limited was registered in which Kudratdeep Singh was made shareholder, whereas Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey and his alleged associate Sandeep Kumar were named as directors of the company. All three held 33.33 per cent stakes in the company.
The financial probe agency suspected that this firm was formed to launder the illegal money generated through illegal sand mining.
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“The company was incorporated for the purposes of placement, integration and layering of the proceeds of legal or illegal sand mining activities by Kudratdeep Singh in association with Bhupinder Singh and Sandeep Kumar,” read an ED document.
After learning this, the ED conducted searches at premises linked to all the three suspects, including the residence of Bhupinder Singh Honey. The officials recovered around Rs 10 crore from these premises which allegedly belonged to Punjab CM’s nephew.
According to the ED, when Bhupinder Singh was questioned, he stated that all the cash which was seized from his residential premises at Ludhiana (Rs. 4.09 crore), Sandeep Kumar’s premises at Ludhiana (Rs 1.99 crore) and from the Homeland House Premises at Mohali (Rs 3.89 crore) actually pertained to him.
