VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 21: The Enforcement Directorate is likely to file the first prosecution complaint against suspended IAS Pooja Singhal in Khunti district MNREGA scam anytime by the end of this month.
Sources aware of the development said that the name of her chartered accountant Suman Singh will also figure in the prosecution complaint who is said to have confessed that he used to manage unaccounted money of the IAS officer.
Both had been arrested on May 7 and May 11 respectively following raids on May 6. Both were questioned in the police custody for 14 days that helped the ED to extract vital information about entry and accommodation of unaccounted money.
The scrutiny of evidence against a couple of district mining officers (DMO) are going on and possibility can’t be ruled out that some of the DMOs may find themselves in the list of the accused.
The ED is also said to have explained how Pooja Singhal started money laundering through embezzlement of the MNREGA project fund when she was Khunti DC and MNREGA programme coordinator during February 2009 till July 2010. The ED is going to explain the present ECIR No. ECIR/PAT/14/2012 lodged in pursuance of 16 FIRs registered in relation to the MNREGA scam, and how Pooja Singhal continued money laundering in different capacities including the mining department secretary. She earned and invested a huge amount as proceeds of crime. Hence from MNREGA to the mining, the scam has an extended trajectory covering more than a decade.
Besides, there is strong evidence against Abhishek Jha, husband of Pooja Singhal. The corroborative evidence has been found that the Pulse Hospital, the super speciality hospital of Abhishek Jha was built and developed with unaccounted money.
The ED during raids recovered cash worth Rs 19.31 crore from the residence and office of Suman Singh. The ED has details of who owns that cash.
Earlier in this case, ED had filed the chargesheet against dismissed engineer Ram Binod Sinha who has substantially revealed about Pooja Singhal. As per the provisions of the Prevention of the Money Laundering Act, the ED has to submit the chargesheet within 60 days of the arrest of the accused.
