RANCHI: Suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal, surrendered before a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Ranchi on Wednesday after her bail period ended.
Pooja Singhal was sent to Birsa Munda Central jail after she surrendered.
Notably, on April 10, the special PMLA court of PK Sharma framed charges against suspended IAS Pooja Singhal under sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA.
Singhal was granted two months’ interim bail in February 2023 for the treatment of her ailing daughter. Earlier on January 3, Sinhgal was granted interim bail for a month on similar grounds.
Two days before the expiry of the bail term, she surrendered before the court on February 4 and obtained a surrender certificate. She filed a bail application with it in the Supreme Court which was allowed.
Singhal had been directed to keep away from the enforcement directorate witnesses. The court had directed Sinhgal not to try to build any pressure on the witnesses and not influence them.
Singhal had knocked on the doors of the SC after Jharkhand High Court denied bail to her on November 3, 2022.
The Enforcement Directorate, after interrogation for over 15 hours, arrested Singhal on May 11 in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) funds and other charges.
ED also has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 82.77 crore belonging to the former Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal on money laundering charges. The properties include ‘Pulse Super Speciality Hospital’, ‘Pulse Diagnostic and Imaging Centre’ and two land parcels located in Ranchi.
The ED claimed that Singhal purchased as many as 13 insurance policies by paying a premium of Rs 80.81 lakh and closed them before the completion of their tenure and got Rs 84.64 lakh against it.