Jharkhand Mining Secretary Arrested By ED; Know Why

Picture courtesy ANI

Ranchi: Senior IAS officer Pooja Singhal, Jharkhand’s Mining secretary, was on Wednesday questioned for several hours before being arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money-laundering case.

Singhal will be in ED’s custody for five days.

Her second husband Abhishek Jha has also been arrested in the case, which involves alleged embezzlement of crores of MGNREGA funds in Jharkhand.

A former junior engineer in the Jharkhand government, Ram Binod Prasad Sinha, was arrested by the ED on June 17, 2020 after being booked by the agency under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in 2012.

Ram Binod, accused of defrauding public money — earmarked for execution of government projects under MGNREGA — and investing it in his and family members’ names between April 2008 and March 2011, told ED officials that he paid five per cent commission (from defrauded funds) to the district administration.

Charges of ‘irregularities’ were made against Singhal when she served as deputy commissioner/district magistrate of Chatra, Khunti and Palamu between 2007 and 2013.

ED has claimed that Singhal and her husband received ‘huge’ cash deposits amounting to Rs 1.43 crore. The agency also told a special PMLA court that the IAS officer allegedly transferred Rs 16.57 lakh from her ‘personal account’ to those controlled or owned by her CA.