RANCHI: In a major relief to suspended IAS Pooja Singhal, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted her a month-long interim bail in the MGNREGA scam. Her bail plea was considered on medical grounds for the treatment of her daughter.
While granting the bail, the Supreme Court has directed Singhal to stay in the Delhi NCR region for her daughter's treatment. Meanwhile, ED has also been directed to file a reply on the bail application of Pooja Singhal in three weeks' time.
Singhal knocked on the doors of SC after Jharkhand High Court denied bail to her on November 3, 2022. The hearing was held in the bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Abhay S Oka of the Supreme Court.
During the hearing, an advocate appearing on behalf of Singhal pleaded that she may be granted bail on the ground that her daughter is suffering from speech syndrome, on which, the court directed the ED to verify the medical condition of her daughter.
The Enforcement Directorate, after interrogation for over 15 hours, had arrested Singhal on May 11 in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and other charges. The 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was taken into ED custody under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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.
According to the information provided by ED earlier, Rs 1.43 crore more than the known sources of her income were recovered from the bank accounts of Pooja Singhal while she was Deputy Commissioner in Khunti, Palamu and Chatra. The ED also 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.