Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s name surfaced in illegal mining in 2018: Captain Amarinder Singh

CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab chief minister and Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief Captain Amarinder Singh accepted on Sunday that after he had spotted illegal mining going on near the Satluj in March 2018 from his chopper and that then cabinet minister and now chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s name had a lso come to fore during the crackdown.

Amarinder said he had then asked the Ropar police to probe the case and it was found that many parties were involved. “A s far as Channi’s case is concerned, at that stage his name did feature. His name, besides other one or two persons, had come to the fore at that time and that was handed over to the investigationteam,” he added.

The PLC president said illegal mining was being probed by the special task force but he had set up a second team under an IG-rank officer to investigate illegal mining. “We can’t hide facts. His (Channi’s) hand was definitely there in Ropar, but to what extent, is a matter of investigation,” he said.
However, he refused to make names of at least 40 Congress leaders public who as, per him, were involved in corruption, including illegal mining, and whose names he had earlier submitted to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The PLC chief said he would refrain from making these names public because no investigation was carried out since the Congress’s national president kept mum on the action which needed to be taken against leaders involved inillegal mining.

Asked if it does not show that in this case he did not think a bout people of Punjab but only about the Congress, Amarinder replied, “You may say whatever you like. ” As the Malerkotla police on Sunday registered an FIR for his hate speech to promote enmity between different groups during elections against former DGP rank officer Mohammad Mustafa, who is Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu’s adviser, Amarinder said he must be arrested. “That man deserves to be arrested as he has been completely ruining the a tmosphere of Punjab… I hope that the Election Commission will take full notice and put him behind the bars,” he said.