New Delhi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s close aide and IAS Pooja Singhal was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case on Wednesday in Ranchi.
Singhal, who is serving as the state’s Mining Secretary, was grilled by the central agency for about nine hours on Tuesday. She along with her husband had appeared before the ED in connection with the probe of the allegations related to the misappropriation of MGNREGA funds in Khunti.
Ranchi | Enforcement Directorate arrests Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal in money laundering probe linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds & other charges https://t.co/zyddFXJV7J
— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2022
The agency had further summoned Singhal for questioning on Wednesday at the ED office in Ranchi.
ED has been investigating the matter against the bureaucrat, her husband, organizations associated with her, and others after it conducted raids on May 6 in Jharkhand and several other places.
If reports are to be believed, the agency had seized over Rs 19 crores of cash from the residence of Singhal.
Officials have also informed that they have seized four SUVs – which were in the name of CA Suman Kumar arrested under the Anti-Money Laundering Act or persons connected with him.
The case against Singhal and others is related to money laundering, wherein Ram Vinod Sinha, a former junior engineer of the Jharkhand government, was arrested by the ED on June 17, 2020, from West Bengal.
Prior to that, a case under PMLA was registered by the agency in 2012 after going through the FIR of the State Vigilance Bureau against him.
