RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday granted two weeks time to the Enforcement Directorate to file a counter affidavit in the bail petition of suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Pooja Singhal.
Singhal has been in custody since May 11 after raids were conducted in properties owned by the former Jharkhand Mines Department Secretary.
The court of Justice Rajesh Kumar has also ordered the case diary to be presented before the bench.
Singhal is accused of money laundering in a case registered by the ED.
The special court of the ED had rejected Singhal's earlier bail plea on August 3 after which she applied for grant of bail before the Jharkhand High Court.
The ED had recently stated that cash amounting to more than Rs 36 crore, linked to "illegal mining" in Jharkhand, was seized by its teams over the last more than two months as part of two separate money-laundering investigations.
One of the instances where cash linked to alleged illegal mining in the state was unearthed pertains to the ED action against suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal in May.
Apart from the 2000-batch IAS officer, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant linked to the couple and others were raided by the ED as part of a money-laundering probe linked to a case of alleged corruption in the MGNREGA scheme.
Singhal, who was holding the charge of mining department in Jharkhand, was suspended by the state government following her arrest by the ED.
Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant linked to Singhal and her husband, was also arrested by the agency and cash amounting to Rs 19.76 crore was seized from him.