ED arrests Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal in money laundering case

Following Singhal’s arrest, the CM said the state government would initiate “legal action”. On speculation that the ED action may be linked to allegations that he had misused his post to get the mining lease, he said: “Chor machaye shor. Ab to BJP ko yeh bolna chahiye ki 20 saalon tak jo unki sarkar rahi, uski poori jaanch honi chahiye (Now the BJP should say that there should be a full investigation into their 20 years of rule in the state).” He pointed out that the alleged irregularities had occurred during the BJP’s tenure, and Singhal had been given a clean chit then.

State BJP president Deepak Prakash, on the other hand, questioned why Singhal had not been suspended till now.

Last week, the ED had arrested Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant (CA) allegedly linked to Singhal, a day after it conducted raids at 18 locations across four states on May 6, including premises linked to the IAS officer. Over Rs 19 crore in cash was reported to have been recovered from the CA’s premises.

Raids were also conducted at premises linked to Singhal’s husband, Abhishek Jha, including his hospital. Jha is the managing director of Pulse Sanjeevani Healthcare Private Hospital, which runs Pulse hospital in Ranchi and Pulse diagnostics centre.

Singhal was questioned on Tuesday and Wednesday, before she was arrested in the afternoon.

The money laundering probe is linked to 16 FIRs registered against a former government junior engineer, Ram Binod Prasad Sinha, and others in 2010-2011 for alleged embezzlement of public funds to the tune of Rs 18.06 crore in Khunti between 2006 and 2010 — and investing it in his name and those of his family members while in service. According to officials, the funds had been earmarked for the execution of government projects under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Khunti district.

Singhal was deputy commissioner, Khunti, in 2009-2010. ED sources said there were many charges of irregularities against her during 2007-2013. “The (bank) accounts of Pooja Singhal and Abhishek Jha have huge cash deposits to the tune of Rs 1.43 crore during the period. The cash deposited in different financial years were over and above the salary,” the ED had told the court earlier.

Sinha was arrested in June 2020. In an affidavit filed in the Jharkhand High Court in February this year, the ED had said that Singhal did not take any action against Sinha despite various complaints. In his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, Sinha had claimed that he used to pay 5 per cent of the cost of an MGNREGA project as commission to his superiors in the engineering section and 5 per cent to the administration side, including the DC’s office in Khunti.

Sinha had also said in the statement that no commission was paid directly to the DC and “it was taken care of from the 5 per cent commission given for district administration”. He had stated that Singhal was acting DC of Khunti district at the time.

The ED said that despite Sinha being suspended by the rural development department from September 11, 2006 till May 17, 2010, he continued to work in Khunti district, with the special division as well as the district board.

“And despite several communications requesting for posting of others (engineers)… no other engineers were deputed to the district board. It was also seen that during the tenure of Pooja Singhal as DC, no action was initiated against accused junior engineer Ram Binod Prasad Sinha, neither to stop further payment of advances to him, nor to recover the amount of advances already granted to him. And even after his relieving, no steps were taken by district administration to recover the advances already given to him or to force him to give charge to any other JE,” the ED had said in its affidavit.

The ED affidavit also recorded the statement of an assistant engineer who said he had told the administration several times that it was “not possible for a single JE to complete so many projects”. “…Ironically in the meetings (chaired by Singhal), it was conveyed to them that they needed to provide project advances to JE (Sinha), as the development project funds are meant for development and not for keeping… in bank account,” the ED had said.

The ED had said that it was also pursuing alleged MGNREGA irregularities in Chatra district and illegal allotment of Khatulia mines in Palamu district. Singhal was deputy commissioner of both these districts.

A 2000-batch Jharkhand-cadre IAS officer, Singhal has held several top positions, from agriculture secretary in the previous BJP government to tourism and industries secretary in the current JMM-led government.