ED takes Jharkhand Mining Secy Pooja Singhal's aide into custody, raids 4 new locations

In a major development pertaining to the Jharkhand illegal mining case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted raids at four new locations. Following the raids, the ED took Prem Prakash Sahu, a close aide to suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal, into custody in Ranchi. The ED officials carried out raids at premises in Ranchi, Patna, Sasaram and Varanasi in connection with the Jharkhand illegal mining case.

The ED conducted a raid at Prem Prakash Sahu's Ranchi residence and took him into custody in connection with the probe. This comes after businessman Vishal Chaudhary and Nishit Kesari were taken into custody by ED on Tuesday. The ED investigation team arrived at the residence of Sahu, who lives in the Harmu area in Ranchi and recovered crucial documents. The central agency team also raided another location linked to Prem Prakash.

Earlier, rumours had stated that Prem Prakash had fled to Nepal following the arrest of Pooja Singhal. However, the ED later confirmed his arrest from Ranchi. According to sources, Sahu was taking legal advice from a senior advocate before he was nabbed by the probe team. He is currently being interrogated by the ED.

Pooja Singhal sent to judicial custody till June 8

Meanwhile, a special ED Court on May 25 sent suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal to judicial custody till June 8 in a money-laundering scam. Singhal was apprehended by the ED on May 11 and was later taken into custody. On May 24, Tuesday, the ED raided six locations in Ranchi, Jharkhand, and Muzaffarpur in connection with a money-laundering probe against Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal. 

On May 23, the central agency also interrogated the District Mining Officer (DMO) of Sahebganj, Bibhuti Kumar at the zonal office in Ranchi, in connection with a money-laundering case against Singhal. The suspended officer was remanded to five-day ED custody in the alleged Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scam. Last week, ED submitted its report in a sealed cover on the fresh findings following the raids and arrests of Singhal and Chartered Accountant (CA) Suman Kumar in connection with the case. 

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