VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 11: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested the secretary of the mining and industry department Pooja Singhal on the charge of money laundering after their sustained questioning on Wednesday.
She was arrested on the charge of committing a scam in the MNREGA project in Khunti where she served as DC.
“She has been placed under arrest under the provisions of the Prevention of the Money Laundering Act. She will be produced before the PMLA court and necessary papers are being prepared,” said ED sources. But she is unlikely to be taken to the Sadar Hospital for the necessary medical check-up which is necessary before arrest. Rather a team of doctors from Sadar hospital is set to visit the ED office for her check-up.
She was arrested on the second day of the questioning. Her replies to the questions asked by the ED during questioning were not satisfactory and her replies were evasive. She was officially arrested around 4.30 PM an hour after her husband Abhishek Jha arrived at the ED office after being summoned.
The ED bombarded her with questions that date back to a decade back related to her financial transactions. She served as DC of Chatra (16/08/2007 to 16/09/2008), Khunti (16/02/2009 to 19/07/2010) and Palamu (19/07/2010 to 08/06/2013).
During this period her bank account as well as that of her husband had an inflated and unusual cash deposit to the tune of Rs.1.43 Crore during the same crime period. It was over and above her salary. She was unable to explain the source of that money.
The cash deposited in her ICICI accounts was used for the purchase of life insurance policies. From the financial year 2005-06 till 2012-13 she purchased 13 policies and paid a premium to the tune of Rs. 80.81 Lakh, and later closed them pre-maturely and received closure amount to the tune of Rs.84.64 lakh. Out of the amount received from the closure of policies, she transferred an amount of Rs. 3.96 Lakh on 26.05.2015 from her account to the account of Chartered Accountant Suman Kumar (Accused Person). Sources said that Suman Singh has also revealed many things about her during interrogation.
