Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate claimed that Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh had received 10 crores in lieu of facilitating illegal sand mining and transfer-posting of certain officials. On February 4 the agency had arrested Bhupinder claimed to have recovered Rs 10 crore in cash during searches preceding the arrest.
The Enforcement Directorate in their statement has said, “During the course of search operation, statements of Kudratdeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Santokh Singh (father of Bhupinder Singh) and Sandeep Kumar were recorded, establishing that the seized Rs. 10 Crore belonged to Bhupinder Singh S/o Santokh Singh. Further, Bhupinder Singh accepted that he received the seized cash in lieu of facilitation in sand mining operations and transfer/postings of officials.”
On January 18 the Enforcement Directorate had conducted raid. They had conducted search operation at various premises, including the business and residential premises of Kudratdeep Singh and other directors of M/s Providers Overseas Consultants Pvt. Ltd, a company, which ED has alleged, is involved in illegal sand mining. Bhupinder along with one Sandeep Kumar is one of the directors in the company.
After the search operation, summons was issued to Bhupinder asking him on February 3 along with requisite documents. “In response, he appeared and tendered his statement, wherein he, inter-alia, stated that he is involved in the mining related activities, but took an evasive approach when confronted with incriminating data,” the ED statement said, adding that he was arrested after this.
On Tuesday, Bhupinder’s custody with the Enforcement Directorate will be ending.
Channi has said that he was being linked with his nephew and his case. “The matter is now in the court. We will accept whatever the court decides. But it is unnecessarily being linked to me,” Channi had said at the time of Bhupinder’s arrest.
“Accordingly, several tippers/trucks, Porcelain machines, JCB Machines etc. were captured and seized by the investigating team. The seized tipper/trucks were also found to be overloaded with sand. The seized weighment slips having office stamps had not been issued by the concerned office and were forged. Subsequently, the mining operation at Malikpur mining site (belonging to Kudratdeep Singh) and the approval of weighment Slips were stopped by the team. As per the FIR, apart from Malikpur, illegal mining activities were also carried out at Burjtahl Das, Barsal, Lalewal, Mandala and Khosa,” the ED statement said.
Financial records of the Providers Overseas Consultants for the year 2019-20, accessed by The Indian Express, show its total revenue from operations at around Rs 18.38 lakh with a total loss of Rs 4.74 lakh after meeting its expenses. The firm with the main function of education and immigration consulting has three directors, including Kudratdeep Singh, Honey and Sandeep Kumar. Each of them hold 33.33 per cent shares in the firm.
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