RANCHI: In a significant relief to IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who is accused in a money laundering case linked to the MGNREGA scam, the special PMLA court in Ranchi on Friday rejected the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) petition seeking to bar her from receiving any government posting.
The special PMLA court, after hearing arguments from both sides on Monday, had reserved its verdict, which was pronounced on Friday. The ED, following the revocation of Singhal’s suspension, had argued that granting her a government role could allow her to misuse her position and influence the case.
However, the court dismissed ED’s concerns, stating, “It is the state government’s prerogative to give any posting to Pooja Singhal or not, and the court will not interfere in it.”
Singhal, a 2000-batch IAS officer, was arrested on 11 May 2022 after a 15-hour interrogation by the ED in connection with alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and other charges. She remained in jail for 28 months before being granted bail by a special PMLA court in Ranchi on 7 December 2024.
Following her release, the Jharkhand government reinstated her with effect from the date of her release. In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, Singhal was appointed Secretary of the Department of Information Technology and e-Governance, along with an additional charge as Chief Executive Officer of Jharkhand Communication Network Ltd. (JCN), Ranchi, on Tuesday.
On 29 January, the PMLA court sought approval from the Jharkhand government to prosecute her in the money laundering case linked to the siphoning of MGNREGA funds during her tenure as Deputy Commissioner in Khunti.
Prior to her arrest, the ED had conducted raids at 18 locations, including her premises, across Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, the National Capital Region (NCR), and multiple districts in Jharkhand, such as Ranchi, Khunti, and Dhanbad. The investigation pertains to an alleged embezzlement of over Rs 18 crore in MGNREGA funds in Khunti district between 2008 and 2011.
Singhal has also been accused of irregularities during her tenure as Deputy Commissioner in Chatra, where she allegedly paid Rs 6 crore in advance to two NGOs—Welfare Point and Prerna Niketan—for musli farming, which was never carried out.
Additionally, while serving as Deputy Commissioner in Palamu, she was charged with transferring 83 acres of forest land to a private company for mining, a case linked to the Kathautia Coal Mines.
