VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Aug 3: The special PMLA court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma in Ranchi has rejected the bail petition of IAS officer Pooja Singhal.
She was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the charge of money laundering during the investigation of the MNREGA scam in Khunti district during the regime of Pooja Singhal as the Deputy Commissioner of the district.
Opposing her bail, the ED submitted that she is a powerful IAS hence the probe of the case may be affected if she is released on bail. The agency told the court that the investigation is yet not completed and the agency has got several crucial leads of money laundering done through several means.
The ED said that during a raid on May 6 at her residence as well as her chartered accountant Suman Kumar Singh, the ED seized Rs 19.31 crore cash from the office and residence of Suman Singh. And he has admitted before the ED that most of the cash seized from his residence belonged to Pooja Singhal. Referring to the PMLA rule, the ED said that the burden of proof lies upon the accused and she has not been able to prove her innocence, and that the said cash did not belong to her. Pooja Singhal in her bail petition had questioned the statement given by Suman Singh before the ED regarding the recovery of cash. She said that his statement should not be treated as admissible evidence. The ED countered this and said that statement given before the ED is admissible. The ED pointed out that the PMLA law was enacted by the parliament as a tool to fight against financial crime. In the light of the emerging evidence the bail should not be granted to her.
It is alleged that during the corresponding period when she was DC of Chatra and Khunti there was a cash trail of cash deposit of nearly Rs 1.43 crore to her account and that of her husband Abhishek Jha. The amount was invested to purchase a life insurance policy and the same was prematurely withdrawn. Pooja Singhal claimed that she had informed the Income Tax Department about the deposit, investment and withdrawal of the said amount. To this the ED said that Pooja Singhal informing the IT department about this transaction was no proof of her innocence because she has not been able to explain the source of the said amount. The ED said that deposits were made corresponding to her tenure as the DC of Khunti and Chatra district. The ED pointed out she invested unaccounted monies in real estate and other concerns and she has not been able to explain the source of the money.
Pooja Singhal had contended that the ED secured her 14 days of police remand and she cooperated in the investigation. She further added that as the agency has filed the chargesheet she should be granted bail.
She was arrested in this case on May 11 days after the ED carried out raids at her residence besides her chartered accountant Suman Kumar Singh, former Khunti district officials and others on May 6. She filed the bail petition on June 27.
On July 7 the ED filed a supplementary prosecution complaint running over 200 pages against suspended Pooja Singhal, her husband Abhishek Kumar Jha, Suman Kumar Singh besides officials of Khunti district namely junior engineer Ram Binod Sinha, Rajendra Jain, Jai Kishore Choudhary and Shashi Prakash.
This was the first-ever prosecution complaint against her where the ED accused her of committing a scam in the execution of the MNREGA scheme in Khunti during her tenure as the Deputy Commissioner cum district programme coordinator of the MNREGA from February 2009 till July 2010.
