SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Feb.4: The Jharkhand Law department has given its opinion to allow the State’s Anti-corruption bureau (ACB) to lodge an FIR against ex-Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal and other officers in the Rs 1000 crore mining scam, unearthed by the Enforcement Directorate.
According to sources, Chief Minister Hemant Soren, in his capacity as Mining minister, had sought the law department’s opinion on how to act on the ED’s request to the Chief Secretary for lodging an FIR against Singhal and other players in the mining scam under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act for amassing huge wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The ED is investigating the case against Singhal and her associates under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Now, the chief minister, in his capacity as mining minister, is expected to tell the ACB to lodge an FIR against Pooja Singhal and others for corruption under the PC Act, sources added.
Notably, the ED had submitted a report giving details of their properties earned through illegal practices to Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh related to her involvement in the illegal mining scam worth Rs. 1000 crore in December last year. The ED asked the state government to prosecute her as well as some other district mining officers.
The ED provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs. 82.77 crore belonging to Pooja Singhal. This includes one Super Speciality Hospital namely ‘Pulse Super Speciality Hospital’, one diagnostics centre namely ‘Pulse Diagnostic and Imagining Centre’ and two land parcels situated in Ranchi.
Notably, the ED has also asked the Jharkhand government to lodge an FIR against jailed IAS officer Pooja Singhal for amassing assets disproportionate to known sources of her income in the MNREGA scam. The ED said this in a report submitted to the state government regarding the attachment of her properties worth Rs. 82.77 crore in the MNREGA scam.
The ED told the government that it should ask Pooja Singhal to explain sources of her assets. It will be proper for the state government to lodge an FIR against her under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the ED has said.
The ED arrested the then Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal in May last year for committing a scam worth Rs. Rs.18.06 crore in the execution of MNREGA scheme in Khunti district. She was posted as DC during 16th February 2009 to 19th July 2010 and she was the principal authority for sanctioning funds for different development projects.
