ED raids house of Punjab CM's nephew in sand mining case ahead of polls; Congress cries foul

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted raids at the premises of a relative of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in a five-year-old illegal sand mining case, triggering a political war with the Congress pointing fingers at a “vindictive” BJP using agencies to target the "only Dalit Chief Minister in the country" in a five-year-old case during election season.

The agency conducted searches at around a dozen locations in Chandigarh and Mohali belonging to people, including those owned by Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, a relative of Channi, in connection with 'sand mafia' and companies linked to alleged illegal sand mining in Punjab.

The ED raids came after taking cognizance of a 2018 FIR filed by Punjab Police against companies and people linked to illegal sand mining. Truck drivers and other operatives allegedly involved in extraction and transportation of sand were named as accused in the FIR.

Officials said Honey's links with one Kudratdeep Singh, who is allegedly involved in the case, are being investigated by the agency. Both Channi and Honey had earlier denied any wrongdoing.

The raids have attained a political colour as Punjab is going to Assembly polls on February 20 and Congress is hoping to retain power in the border state where AAP is posing a challenge to the ruling party.

The BJP had faced criticism for the raids by ED, CBI and Income Tax Department during the election season earlier with the Congress alleging that the ED has now become "Election Department" of the saffron party.

Channi described the raids as an attempt to put pressure and target him and his ministers. "When there were polls in West Bengal, such attacks took place on Mamata Banerjee's relatives. Now, in the same pattern in Punjab, ED is trying to put pressure on, giving trouble," Channi said.

"Not just on the ministers, chief minister, but pressure is being created on every Congress worker. Such an atmosphere is not good for democracy. When elections are near, they thought about conducting ED raids," he added.

Congress Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told a press conference in Delhi that the BJP's attempt to "scare the only Dalit Chief Minister in the country" will not work. He also accused Kejriwal of working in cahoots with the BJP to attack Channi and Congress.

He said none of Channi's relatives were named in the FIR in 2018 and Channi's relative was targeted after claiming that he is a friend of one person mentioned in the FIR. "We have seen this tactic of the ruling BJP to use the ED against us from Gujarat to the North East. But we are not the ones to be scared or who will bend," he said.

AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attacked Channi over the raids and said it was "sad that a relative of the Chief Minister is being raided".

Kejriwal said AAP leader Raghav Chadha had even shown how illegal sand mining was taking place in Channi's own assembly constituency. “Despite uncovering it, the chief minister did not take action and even tried to justify it. It is clear that he (CM) and his family are involved in illegal sand mining. What can be expected for Punjab’s future from a person whose family is involved in illegal mining,” he said.

"These are baseless allegations. This also shows how AAP and BJP are working together. When none knew about the raids, Kejriwal came up with his reaction, the first one to do. Both the AAP and BJP are hand in glove to defeat the Congress and we see them together in Goa, Uttarakhand and Punjab," Surjewala said.

Congress Punjab in-charge Harish Chowdhury said, "this is not Amarinder Singh. This is Charanjit Singh Channi. He is not the one who one can scare. These are fake raids. No Congressperson is linked to it."

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