ED arrests J’khand Mining Secy in alleged money laundering case
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal in an alleged money laundering case.
The 2000-batch IAS officer has been taken into ED custody under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Sources claimed that Singhal was “evasive” in her replies and hence was arrested. The
Enforcement Directorate (ED) will produce her before a local court here seeking her remand.
She had arrived at the probe agency’s regional office in the Hinoo area of Ranchi around 10:40 am for the second day of questioning.
Singhal was at the ED office for about nine hours on Tuesday and her statement was recorded.
The ED arrested her after questioning her in connection with alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds in Khunti and other charges.
The probe agency had earlier also questioned her businessman husband Abhishek Jha.
The questioning of the couple comes after the ED conducted raids against the bureaucrat, her husband, their linked entities and a chartered accountant Suman Kumar on May 6 in Jharkhand and a few other locations.
Cash of around Rs 19 crore was recovered during the raids by the ED.
The agency has also seized four SUVS — a Jaguar, a Fortuner and two Honda brand cars — which were in the name of arrested CA Suman Kumar or his linked persons under the antimoney laundering law.
The Enforcement Directorate investigation against Singhal and others pertains to a moneylaundering 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.
Sinha 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 working as junior engineer from April 1, 2008 to March 21, 2011.
The said money was earmarked for the execution of government projects under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) in Khunti district, the agency had earlier said.