MGNREGA scam: ED attaches properties worth Rs 82 crore of suspended IAS officer Pooja Sinhgal
RANCHI: After the approval given by the Adjudicating Authority, Government takes over the Rs 82.77 crore properties belonging to suspended IAS Pooja Singhal, allegedly earned through the MNREGA scam. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached her properties on December 1, 2022, which include Pulse Super Specialty Hospital and Pulse Diagnostic and Imaging Center located in Ranchi.
Now the government will take a decision on whether the Pulse Hospital and Diagnosis Center will remain operational or not. Apart from this, two of her plots were also confiscated. Singhal, however, had been given a chance to go on appeal till the Adjudicating Authority takes a decision on confiscation but, it has finally been taken over by the government. Sources claimed that Pulse Hospital will remain operational and will be handed over to Deoghar AIIMS for the same as state-of-the-art facilities are available here besides having expensive medical equipment worth several crores installed here.
The ED, after interrogation for over 15 hours, had arrested the 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service officer Pooja Singhal on May 11 last year in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and other charges.
ED had started the money laundering probe on the basis of several FIRs lodged by Jharkhand Police and the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigation revealed that the Proceeds of Crime (POC) arising out of the MGNREGA scam in the form of the commission were deposited in various bank accounts of Pooja Singhal and her relatives.
According to an official communiqué issued by ED on December 1, 2022, “Directorate of Enforcement has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs. 82.77 crores (market value) belonging to Pooja Singhal, IAS in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The properties include one super speciality hospital namely Pulse Super Specialty Hospital, one diagnostics centre namely Pulse Diagnostic and Imagining Centre and two land parcels situated in Ranchi only,” stated the release.
According to the information provided by ED after conducting raids at various locations in Ranchi and other locations, Rs 1.43 crore more than the known sources of her income were recovered from the bank accounts 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. Earlier also, ED had seized former minister Enos Ekka’s residence at Airport Road and set up its zonal office in it after getting the stamp of the Adjudicating Authority.