Jharkhand IAS Officer Pooja Singhal Summoned By ED In Connection With Money Laundering Case

Pooja Singhal was earlier briefly questioned by the agency on May 6 during raids that were conducted against her and her businessman husband and others in Jharkhand and a few other locations. 

New Delhi: Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for interrogation on Tuesday in Ranchi in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and other charges, officials said, reported news agency PTI. 

The 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has been asked to depose before the investigation officer of the case at the federal agency's zonal office in Ranchi, officials told the news agency adding that her statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

The mining secretary was earlier briefly questioned by the agency on May 6 during raids that were conducted against her and her businessman husband Abhishek Jha and others in Jharkhand and a few other locations. 

 

The ED investigation pertains to a money laundering case in which former junior engineer in the Jharkhand government, Ram Binod Prasad Sinha, was arrested by the agency on June 17, 2020 from West Bengal after he was booked by the agency under the PMLA in 2012 after studying the FIRs of the state vigilance bureau against him, reported the news agency. 

The junior engineer was booked by the vigilance bureau under criminal sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to cheating and corruption for allegedly defrauding public money and investing it in his own name as well as in the name of his family members while he worked at the post from April 1, 2008 to March 21, 2011.

The money in question was reserved for the execution of government projects under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in Khunti district, the agency had earlier said.

Sinha had told the agency that "he paid five per cent commission (out of the defrauded funds) to the district administration,” reported PTI. 

During the said period, the ED had alleged, charges of "irregularities" were made against Singhal while she served as the deputy commissioner/district magistrate of Chatra, Khunti and Palamu between 2007 and 2013.

On May 7, chartered accountant Suman Kumar was arrested by the agency in connection with the case following seizure of over Rs 17 crore cash from his premises and will be in ED custody till May 11.

The agency is also probing his alleged links with the IAS officer and her husband.

In a remand note presented to the court for Kumar, the agency had claimed that Singhal and her husband allegedly received "huge" cash deposits -- to the tune of Rs 1.43 crore -- over and above her salary in their accounts, during the period she faced charges of irregularities while being posted as the DM of various districts in the state.

The federal agency also told a special PMLA court in Ranchi that the IAS officer allegedly transferred Rs 16.57 lakh from her "personal account" to those controlled or owned by her, CA Kumar.