VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 6: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is stated to have launched a nationwide raid against senior IAS officer and secretary of the mining and industry departments, Pooja Singhal in a case related to alleged illegal mining. As per the initial information in Ranchi, raids were conducted at as many as five locations against private persons who are stated to be close to the IAS officer.
Raids are said to be going on private and semi-private premises on Kanke Road, Lalpur, Bariatu, Doranda and others. A city-based private hospital Pulse hospital owned by Abhishek Jha, husband of Pooja Singhal is under the scanner. One chartered accountant is also under the scanner.
However, the ED has not confirmed any raid but BJP’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey tweeted that raids are going on in Ranchi, Delhi, Mumbai and Rajasthan against Pooja Singhal. Dubey said that raids are going against Pooja Singhal who allocated a mining lease to Basant Soren, brother of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his associates.
A highly placed source of a law agency (not of the ED) confided that a raid is going on against Khandelwal who is associated with the midday meal scheme. Notably, the ED has been investigating the role of Pooja Singhal in the MNREGA scam in Khunti when she was DC of the district besides allocation of mining lease in Palamu where she also served as DC.
