VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 19: The Enforcement Directorate has stated that the secretary of the mining department Pooja Singhal had a role in the allotment of the mining lease to respondent number seven who happens to be Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
In the affidavit submitted before the Jharkhand High Court on Thursday, the ED said that during the course of the investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, a serious implication of Pooja Singhal has been found. “The said material pertains to the allotment of the lease in favour of Respondent No.7 which is the subject matter of PIL 727/2022” the ED has said. This petition is related to the allocation of the stone mining lease to chief minister Hemant Soren at Angara in Ranchi.
The ED said that it is investigating ECIR No. ECIR/PAT/14/2012 which is registered in pursuance of 16 FIRs registered in relation to the MNREGA scam during the regime of Pooja Singhal as DC Khunti. In this matter, one Arun Kumar Dubey had filed a PIL 4632/ 2019 seeking investigation of the role of Pooja Singhal.
Regarding the PIL related to shell companies, the ED has also disclosed that during the course of the investigation the role of some of the companies has also emerged. These companies spread over to the jurisdiction beyond Jharkhand. The ED that in the PIL 4290/21, the petitioner has named these companies.
As the ED has submitted a preliminary investigation report to Jharkhand High Court, it has requested the court not to share it with Jharkhand Police.
“Considering the strong prima facie case emerging so far, the Enforcement Directorate found it advisable not to share the material with any police authority under the administrative and disciplinary control of State of Jharkhand,” the ED said.
Notably, during the hearing on Thursday, Kapil Sibal who argued on behalf of the Jharkhand government said that the investigation report of the ED should be shared with the state as the state government wants to file a counter-affidavit.
