HC grants bail to Punjab ex-CM Charanjit Channi's nephew Bhupinder Honey in ED case

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 1

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has found force in arguments of Bhupinder Singh, alias Honey, that “the timing of the FIR registration” against him was “due to political reasons”. The observations came as Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan granted regular bail to Honey, nephew of former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in an Enforcement Directorate case.

Justice Sangwan asserted that the ED FIR was registered four years after the registration of another FIR in March 2018 for theft, cheating, forgery and other offences under the provisions of the IPC and the Mines and Minerals (Regulation of Development) Act against many persons on allegations of illegal mining activities.

Justice Sangwan added that the court found force in the argument, “especially in view of the fact that the same had been registered after the petitioner’s uncle took over as the Punjab Chief Minister and also in view of the fact that from 2018 till 2022, neither any further FIR was registered nor any proceedings were initiated by the ED”.

Honey was seeking bail in a case revolving around sand mining registered in Jalandhar district on November 30, 2021, for offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Nine partners had obtained “Malikpur” sand mine contract along with Kudratdeep Singh.

Justice Sangwan’s Bench was told that Honey was not one of the partners. Senior counsel Bipin Ghai contended on his behalf that the ED, to connect the petitioner with the offence, recorded Kudratdeep’s statement that he used to help him during a dispute between the partners and also helped “in supervising the mining activities as a common friend”.

Justice Sangwan asserted that it was the ED’s admitted case that a complaint was filed by the ED after four years. In the intervening period, there was no further complaint or FIR regarding illegal mining to suggest that the petitioner was a habitual offender. He was not involved in any other case even prior to the FIR registration.

Justice Sangwan added that a perusal of the “enforcement case information report” revealed that it was registered with reference to the Marc 2018 FIR. “However, nothing could be found regarding the role of the then Chief Minister and the proceedings under the PC Act were dropped.

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