The raids were in connection in connection with a probe into the alleged money laundering of MGNREGA funds. The alleged embezzlement of funds took place in Khunti district of Jharkhand during 2008 to 2011.
Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted multi-state raids at several premises connected with Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal and her family. According to ED officials, raids were also conducted at Singhal’s chartered accountant’s Ranchi-based house from where the central agency unearthed Rs 17 crore.
The raids were in connection in connection with a probe into the alleged money laundering of MGNREGA funds. The alleged embezzlement of funds took place in Khunti district of Jharkhand during 2008 to 2011.
ED officials had brought along with them cash counting machines to ascertain the exact amount of cash. The agency has also recovered nearly Rs 1.8 crore cash during the raid at other premises in Ranchi.
According to a statement issued by the ED, the agency carried out searches at about 18-20 premises in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi, Punjab and a few other states under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Singhal, a 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Jharkhand cadre is posted as the secretary of the department of mines and geology in the state capital of Ranchi. She was posted as the deputy commissioner in Khunti district earlier.
Other locations in the state capital where searches were conducted included a hospital. The ED officials were provided a security escort by the personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force.
ED’s raids were carried out in connection with a money laundering case in which former junior engineer of the Jharkhand government Ram Binod Prasad Sinha was arrested on June 17, 2020 from the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal by ED after he was booked by it under the PMLA.
According to the FIRs and chargesheets filed by the state vigilance bureau against Sinha, it was alleged the he abused his official position and indulged in embezzlement of Rs 18.06 crore of government funds by way of forgery and misappropriation.
He was booked by the vigilance department under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to cheating and corruption for allegedly defrauding public money and investing the same in his own name as well as in the name of his family members while working as the junior engineer between April 1, 2008 and March 21, 2011.
