HC grants bail to Channi’s nephew

COURT OBSERVES “POLITICAL REASONS” BEHIND THE CASE CAN’T BE RULED OUT

CHANDIGARH: : The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday granted bail to former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh in a money laundering case.

The high court bench of justice Arvind Sangwan, in its judgment while referring to political scenario at the time of raids, observed that there is a “force” in the petitioner’s arguments regarding the timing of registration of the ED case, which was after four years of the registration of an illegal mining case in 2018.

The ED proceedings are due to political reasons especially in view of the fact that the same has been registered after his uncle took over as chief minister, his counsel, senior advocate Bipan Ghai had argued.

The court also noted that from 2018 till 2022, neither any further FIR was registered nor any proceedings were initiated by ED and raids were conducted on Singh in January 2022, just ahead of assembly polls. Channi took over as the CM in September, 2021 in the previous Congress regime.

The court also took note of the fact that role of Channi was also probed and the proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act were dropped.

Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case on February 3, had approached the high court on June 30. He is presently confined in the Kapurthala Central Jail. The ED had registered a case in the matter on November 30, 2021, under various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act while linking proceedings to a 2018 FIR.

The case was linked to alleged illegal sand mining in the state. The agency is claimed to have seized cash and valuables worth ₹ 10 crore from Honey and his partners in raids conducted in January.

The court further observed he was not a “habitual offender” and is not involved in any other case. Even his involvement was also not found in the 2018 case and ED also admitted that there is no direct allegation against him that he was looking into the finances of Kudratdeep Singh, who was an accused in the 2018 FIR.

“Court has nothing to presume adverse to the conduct of the petitioner and since all the documents are already in the custody of the investigating agency, therefore, there is no possibility for the petitioner to tamper with the same,” the bench observed.

The court while granting bail has asked him not to leave the country without the court’s permission and his passport will remain in the custody of the prosecuting agency or the trial court. He has also been asked to give undertaking that he will appear as and when asked to by the ED.