Former Punjab Chief Minister and Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi conducted a surprise midnight visit to a sand mining site at Gag Dhakara village near Nakodar, claiming to have exposed illegal mining along the Sutlej despite prohibitory orders banning operations after 7 pm and during the monsoon.Accompanied by Congress workers and security personnel, Channi reached the site on motorcycles to avoid detection. During a Facebook Live broadcast, he alleged that more than five Poclain machines were operating and fled after noticing his presence. Dr Navjot Dahiya, Nakodar Congress halqa in-charge, claimed around 50 trucks crossed his team on their way to the site, indicating large-scale extraction.Channi alleged that a worker admitted to covering over 10 sand-laden trucks daily, with hundreds leaving the site each day. He further claimed the mining mafia had set up checkpoints 5 km before the site to alert operators of inspections.Launching a political attack, Channi accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of colluding with the police to allow illegal mining, saying Punjab’s resources were being “plundered”.Referring to AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s pre-election promise of generating Rs 20,000 crore from sand mining, he accused to the AAP government of “pocketing crores of rupees” through illegal means.Nakodar AAP MLA Inderjit Kaur Mann countered, stating the machines were parked on private property and no mining was underway. She said, “If the MP saw some illegality happening, he should have called up the area SHO or the SSP from the site itself. It was a bogus raid attempt.”She claimed the police later confiscated a machine owned by a person linked to Channi’s visit and an FIR was lodged. Channi denied the claim, insisting the man did not own any mining equipment.