Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday demanded the Punjab Governor to file a criminal case against Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for illegal sand mining.
A delegation of AAP led by AAP’s Punjab affairs co-in-charge Raghav Chadha met Governor Banwari Lal Purohit and submitted a memorandum demanding legal action against CM Channi.
The delegation alleged crores of rupees and sensational documents seized in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids from the CM’s relatives in the case of illegal sand mining belong to Charanjit Singh Channi and demanded a more thorough and impartial inquiry into the matter.
After the meeting, Chadha said AAP have informed the Governor about the ED raids and evidence found in village Jindapur, CM Channi’s constituency Chamkaur Sahib, and also about Rs 10 Crore cash, Rolex watch, gold worth Rs 22 lakh, expensive vehicles, Rs 54 Crore bank liabilities and real estate registries from Channi’s nephew’s house.
Chadha said AAP had been alleging for a long time that the sand mafia was operating in Punjab under the patronage of the CM, Channi. Illegal sand is being excavated in village Jindapur of Channi’s Assembly constituency Sri Chamkaur Sahib.
The AAP leader said the sand mafia is even stealing sand from the forest department land and the CM did not take any action despite complaints. He said former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had claimed that even when Channi was minister, he was running the sand mafia.
“Capt Amarinder had taken the matter up with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Instead of taking action against Channi, Congress high command had promoted him from minister to CM, which raised the suspicion that money of Punjab’s sand mafia was reaching the top leadership of Congress too,” Chadha said.
The AAP leader said it was a matter of concern that Channi had been the CM of Punjab only for 111 days, if he had been the CM for five years, how much wealth would he have amassed.
Responding to a query, Chadha said there was no denying that the raid on Chief Minister Channi’s relative was part of political vendetta. But the recovery of crores of rupees, lakhs of gold and other assets from a person’s house also raises suspicions and demands an impartial inquiry against the CM, his relatives and associates.