J’khand govt suspends Mining Secy held in money laundering case

RANCH: A day after being arrested in connection with a money laundering case and remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate, the Jharkhand government on Thursday suspended state mining secretary Pooja Singhal, an official said.

The ED had produced the 2000 batch IAS officer before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma after two consecutive days of questioning by the central probe agency on Tuesday and Wednesday.

She was sent to Birsa Munda Central Jail, Hotwar, on Wednesday night after the ED took her on remand for five days.

“Pooja Singhal has been suspended with immediate effect under the provisions of All India Services (Discipline and Appeal Rules, 1969), the official said.

A notification from the Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Official Language Department of the Jharkhand Government read “In the light of the arrest under Section-19 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002, Smt Pooja Singhal, IAS (Jh: 2000), Secretary, Industries Department, Jharkhand (Additional Charge Secretary, Mines and Geology Department, Jharkhand and Managing Director, Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd Ranchi by ED... under Rule-3(3) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, is suspended with immediate effect”.

Singhal will be paid subsistence allowance during the period of suspension under Rule-40 of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, the notification mentioned.

Meanwhile, the doctor who examined the IAS officer under ED remand said her blood pressure is fluctuating and she is experiencing bouts of vertigo.

“She is nervous and there is complaint of slight vertigo... Her blood pressure is fluctuating ... her diastolic blood pressure is high”, said Dr R K Jaiswal.

Reacting to the arrest, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren had said Wednesday, the state government “will initiate whatever legal action it has to take in this subject”.

He said the alleged irregularities “occurred during BJP tenure and that should be probed.

It was during the BJP tenure that a clean chit was given to her in 2017, the CM had said.

All those who gave her the clean chit should be probed. You (BJP) make her do the wrong and you (also) give her a clean chit, Soren had said.

The money laundering investigation against Singhal and others pertains to a case in which former Jharkhand government junior engineer Ram Binod Prasad Sinha was arrested by the agency on June 17, 2020, from West Bengal.

He was booked under the PMLA on the basis of state vigilance bureau FIRS against him.

Sinha told ED that he paid five per cent commission (out of the defrauded funds) to the district administration.