Jharkhand Mining Secy Pooja Singhal sent to judicial custody till June 8 in MGNREGA scam

In the latest development, a special Enforcement Directorate (ED) Court on May 25 sent suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal to judicial custody till June 8 in a money-laundering scam. Singhal was arrested by the ED on May 11 and was later taken into custody. 

On May 24, Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate raided six locations in Ranchi, Jharkhand, and Muzaffarpur in connection with a money-laundering investigation against Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal. 

On May 23, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) interrogated the District Mining Officer (DMO) of Sahebganj, Bibhuti Kumar at the zonal office in Ranchi, in connection with a money-laundering case against suspended Jharkhand Mining secretary Pooja Singhal, reported ANI. Sahebganj DMO had been summoned twice to join the investigation. However, he did not turn up earlier citing his daughter's wedding. 

Pooja Singhal 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 alleged MGNREGA scam. 

Money Laundering Case

Three people, including Singhal, her husband Abhishek Jha, and Kumar came on the ED's radar during a probe in a money-laundering scam that involves Ram Binod Prasad Sinha, the former junior engineer in the Jharkhand government, who was arrested on June 17, 2020, from West Bengal.

The agency began probing Sinha after he was booked by the vigilance bureau for allegedly defrauding public money, investing it in his own names and the names of his family members. The ED said that the fund was earmarked for the execution of government projects under MGNREGA in the Khunti district. Ram Binod Prasad Sinha further claimed that "he paid 5% commission to the district administration."

At the time, the central agency alleged that charges of 'irregularities' were made against Singhal while she was the deputy commissioner/district magistrate of Khunti, Chatra, and Palamu between 2007 and 2013. The ED first took her into five days of custody on May 12 after her arrest on May 11. Her custody was later extended and she was suspended by the state government on May 12 as part of the procedures undertaken.

Image: PTI, Twitter