CHANDIGARH: Punjab police on Monday registered an FIR against former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, presently on bail in money laundering case, and his aide Kudratdeep Singh alias Lovie for carrying out illegal mining in the area of Malikpur mining site in Nawanshahr district in 2017.
The FIR has been registered on Monday under sections 21(1) and 4(1) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, sections 379(theft), 406(criminal breach of trust), 420(cheating), 465(forgery), 471(using as genuine a forged document) and 120B(criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 15 of the Environment Protection Act at police station Rahon.
The police have also sent notice to Honey to join the investigation in this case, while Kudratdeep, presently in Kapurthala jail, will be brought on production warrant on Tuesday. IG state police headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill informed that the Enforcement Directorate(ED) was investigating this case and had in its letter on May 9 informed the Nawanshahr police about recovery of 73 weighment slips dated November 10, 2017 during searches, besides details of excess output of sand to the mining department from illegal mining at Malikpur sand mining site.
In the end of the year 2021, the ED Jalandhar officials conducted searches at premises of Honey and Lovie. The ED had then recovered various undiscriminating documents, digital devices, and cash to the tune of Rs 9.97 crore relatable to the proceeds of crime generated by way of illegal sand mining activities at the Malikpur sand mining site.
The IG headquarters said that based on the ED information, the Nawanshahr SSP had immediately constituted a SIT under the supervision of SP (investigation) Nawanshahr for further probe. Thereafter, the SIT found that both the accused had conducted illegal mining in that area using heavy machinery resulting in violating the provisions of environment clearance issued by state level environment authority. The IG further added that the accused persons also used fake 73 weighment slips dated November 10, 2017, which were recovered by the ED during the searches.
“The police also found details of the output of sand more than reported to the mining department which was corroborated by the mining department through its letter dated June 29, 2022 referring to lesser output of sand shown to the mining department which led to financial loss to the state exchequer,” he added.
