CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday alleged that attempts were being made to frame him in the illegal sand mining case in which raids were conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against his nephew. He also linked the raids to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to Punjab when he had to return without addressing a rally at Ferozepur because of security breach.
Accusing the BJP-led Union government of hatching a conspiracy to trap him through his nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, Channi claimed, “My nephew was tortured to take my name and the courts were kept open till early morning so that if he takes my name, he could be arrested and produced in court. When they (ED) failed to discover my link, they left. But before leaving, the ED officials threatened him saying they would return at the time of filing of nominations and date of polling just to stop us from contesting the elections.”
Alleging vindictive politics by the Centre, the CM said, “What was my fault, if Modi had to return? They are taking revenge because I stood with Punjab during the PM’s visit. Now they are harassing our people. Many of our people and ministers are under pressure.”
Channi said his nephew was not even named in the cases registered by the Punjab Police in 2018 in which the ED is now conducting raids. The ED has seized about `10 crore in cash, including `8 crore from the residence of Channi’s nephew, as well as ‘incriminating documents’. The agency is expected to summon the people whose premises were raided for questioning. Another `2 crore was seized one Sandeep Kumar, linked with Bhupinder, according to ED sources.
On the recovery of `8 crore, Channi said, “I don’t know about the recovery. Only my nephew can tell. The prime accused in the case was Kudratdeep Singh but they are now switching the whole case towards my nephew.”