Former Punjab CM Channi summoned by Vigilance Bureau for disproportionate assets case

According to official sources, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau has summoned former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to appear for questioning on Wednesday in an alleged disproportionate assets case.

According to them, the Congress leader has been summoned to the bureau’s office in Mohali. This is the first time Channi has been called in for questioning in the case.

The Vigilance Bureau initially summoned Channi on Wednesday, but changed the date after the Congress leader requested time. Channi stated, “I will appear before the Vigilance Bureau on 20 April.”

Previously, on 7 March, the Vigilance Bureau issued a lookout circular against Channi, preventing him from flying abroad. Channi announced in a video message two days later that he was cancelling his trip to the United States. The Enforcement Directorate arrested Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh, alias Honey, in February last year in an alleged illegal sand mining case. The ED had seized nearly Rs 10 crore in addition to a number of valuables from Honey’s premises. It has been claimed that Honey amassed his fortune by assisting mining contractors and through official transfers and postings. ED also summoned Channi in April of last year to record his statement. Channi had previously described his nephew’s arrest and summons as a vendetta and political witch hunt.

Channi left for the United States and Canada shortly after the Congress’ humiliating defeat in last year’s Assembly elections, in which he was the party’s CM face, and returned nearly seven months later in December. Channi had previously run unsuccessfully for the Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur Assembly seats.

On Tuesday, Channi claimed that the Vigilance Bureau summons were a “political witch hunt” and that he was summoned because of political vendetta. “The AAP government is doing this to defame the established leadership of the Congress party,” Channi explained.

He also questioned the VB summon’s timing. “This was done on purpose ahead of the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll,” he added.

In the aftermath of a “humiliating defeat” in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring accused the AAP government of “choosing to resort to its last weapon, the vigilance bureau.”

“Faced with a certain and humiliating defeat in the Jalandhar bypoll, the AAP resorts to its last weapon, the vigilance bureau.” “Charanjit Channi has faced far more serious threats than an investigation, and I am confident he will emerge stronger,” Warring wrote in a tweet.

Warring later claimed in a statement that the AAP government is “anti-Dalit” and has plan to target and harass dalit leaders. The election for the Jalandhar parliamentary seat will be held on 10 May with the results announced on 13 May. The byelection was called after Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary’s death in January at the age of 76. He died of a cardiac arrest while participating in the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jalandhar’s Phillaur.