Ranchi (IANS) | Jharkhand’s suspended IAS Pooja Singhal’s troubles in MNREGA scam and money laundering case are going to increase further. Now the state government will also file a corruption case against him. The law secretary and advocate general of the government have given consent to the proposal to register an FIR against him. As soon as the approval of the Chief Minister is received, a case will be filed against him.
ED had shared the facts gathered in corruption cases with the state government in November 2022 itself after raiding Pooja Singhal’s premises, her arrest, interrogation and investigation. The ED in its report had recommended the government to take action against him in corruption cases. Even after this, the ED had also sent a reminder to the government for not taking any action on him.
The Enforcement Directorate had shared the information under Section 66-2 of the PMLA Act with the state government after filing charge sheets in the MGNREGA scam and recording statements of District Mining Officers in illegal mining. In the light of the information received from the Enforcement Directorate, a proposal was prepared and sent to the government by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms to lodge an FIR against Pooja Singhal under sections of the PC Act. The Government had sought the opinion of the Law Department on this proposal, on which the Law Department had agreed to the proposal to register an FIR after reviewing the information provided by the Enforcement Directorate and related documents. After this, the Advocate General also gave his consent on this proposal. Now the final decision has to be taken by Chief Minister Hemant Soren in this matter. As soon as the consent of the Chief Minister is received, an FIR will be lodged in this matter.
Significantly, on May 6 last year, the ED had raided the residence of Pooja Singhal and more than two dozen locations connected to her. During this, more than 19 crores in cash were recovered from the places of her husband’s CA Suman Kumar. After questioning in this case, ED arrested Pooja Singhal on 11 May. The Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Singhal for two months on health grounds. After completion of its term, he had to surrender in the ED court on April 12 and these days he is in jail.
–IANS
