VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Dec. 10: The Supreme Court is set to hear the bail petition of Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal on Monday. Pooja is an accused of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the MNREGA scam and the agency arrested her in May this year and filed a prosecution complaint. Her properties worth Rs 82.77 crore were also attached by the agency.
Notably, the Jharkhand High Court rejected her bail petition following which she filed the bail petition. Her petition has been listed for hearing by a division bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Abhay S. Oka.
Notably, the ED has charged her for committing a scam worth Rs.18.06 crore in the execution of the MNREGA project in Khunti district where she was the DC during the period 16th February 2009 to 19th July 2010 and she was the principal authority for sanctioning funds for different development projects. The ED claimed that she invested the proceeds of crime in the construction of Pulse Super Speciality Hospital owned by her husband.
Meanwhile, Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal, also arrested by the ED, in cash for PIL scam has also challenged the high court order. His petition has also been listed for hearing on Monday by a bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna.