VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 25: The special PMLA court in Ranchi on Wednesday forwarded suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal to the judicial remand till June 8. She will be further produced before the court via video conferencing.
The Enforcement Directorate produced Pooja Singhal before the special PMLA court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma after her five days remand period was over on Wednesday. She will be taken to the Birsa Munda Central Jail.
The ED requested the court to grant permission to the agency to question her in judicial custody whenever required. The special prosecutor of the ED BMP Singh prayed to the court that the investigation is in a crucial stage and new evidence is emerging, hence, the court should pass the order to the jail superintendent to allow the agency to question her in judicial custody whenever required.
“We have prayed that this is a case of a larger conspiracy, and new facts are unfolding every day. So, we have requested that the Jail superintendent should be instructed to give us permission to interrogate when needed. To this, the court directed ED to file a separate petition when something new comes, and on that basis, the court would consider,” the ED said.
She was taken to the court around 1 pm where her lawyer Bishwajit Mukherjee was present. She was arrested by the ED on May 11 on the charge of money laundering during the course of the investigation of the MNREGA scam in Khunti. The ED thrice obtained her police remand for questioning totalling 14 days. During the police custody, she was confronted with her chartered accountant Suman Singh. The ED had recovered more than Rs 19 Crore from his office and residence during the raid on May 6.
