Punjab rival parties demand answers from Cong after arrest of CM's nephew

Hours after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in a money laundering case, rival parties launched an attack on the Congress government saying it cannot escape answerability.

Honey was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case linked to alleged illegal sand mining late Thursday night after several hours of questioning at the agency's office in Jalandhar.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha on Friday referred to the huge sums of cash seized from the premises linked to Channi's nephew and alleged that Honey had swindled the money during the 111 days of the Channi government.

If one relative of Channi accumulated so much ill-gotten wealth in his 111 days of tenure as the chief minister, imagine how much his other relatives would accumulate in five years, Chadha alleged.

He said Channi may have distanced himself from his nephew's alleged misdeeds, but he cannot escape answerability.

Claiming that Honey has made some startling revelations before the ED, Chadha sought to know, Will the chief minister answer how Honey was provided with security, commandos and an escort vehicle.

The people will punish the Congress in the February 20 polls, he said.

Targeting Channi, Chadha said the man who was repeatedly trying to project himself as an aam aadmi (common man) must explain how his relative was able to own such huge sums of money.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said he has been maintaining that the money was first seized, then Honey was arrested. How can Channi escape from the issue.

He is answerable, and the chief minister and his party must tell in what capacity was Honey given the security. The money seized is ill-gotten wealth, Majithia said.

Honey is the son of Channi's sister-in-law.

After the raids last months, ED sources had claimed that the agency had recovered over Rs 10 crore in cash and several "incriminating" documents, of which Rs 8 crore and most of the papers allegedly belonged to Honey alone.

Honey's arrest comes days before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is slated to announce the party's chief ministerial candidate in the poll-bound state. Gandhi is expected to make this announcement during his virtual rally in Ludhiana on Sunday and Channi is stated to be the front runner.

Channi, for his part, had earlier said that just as relatives of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were raided during the Assembly polls in that state, the ED had followed the same pattern in Punjab to pressure him, his ministers and the Congress party members.

The ED had filed a criminal case under PMLA last November.

The case is based on a 2018 FIR at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar police station that pressed charges under the Indian Penal Code and Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act, 1957.

Punjab will go to polls on February 20.