Ranchi. Jharkhand’s senior IAS officer and state’s Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED had raided the houses and offices of several people associated with him, including his official residence, last week in connection with the MGNREGA scam while his collector in Khunti. More than Rs 19 crore in cash was recovered from his CA Suman Kumar’s house. After that the police had called Pooja Singhal for questioning on Tuesday. He was arrested by the ED after nearly 18 hours of interrogation in two days. Her husband Abhishek Kumar has also been arrested by the ED.
During the interrogation of ED, Pooja Singhal kept telling herself innocent, but she could not answer from where the amount of Rs 1.43 crore apart from salary came in her account. He was questioned for nine hours on Tuesday, after which he was called again on Wednesday morning. It is being told that on Wednesday, Pooja Singhal was questioned in matters related to the huge cash found at her CA’s house and her husband’s hospital.
According to informed sources, in the interrogation of the second day, Pooja Singhal has named a minister in the MNREGA scam. Keep in mind that in the MNREGA scam in Khunti, the previous BJP government had given a clean chit to Pooja Singhal. ACB probe against him was not sanctioned. Referring to this, the Chief Minister of the state Hemant Soren on Wednesday said that he will get the matter investigated for giving clean chit to Pooja Singhal.
However, the Jharkhand government is waiting for the ED’s report in the case of Pooja Singhal. On the basis of that report, departmental action can be taken against them. He may be suspended after ED’s report. Meanwhile, on his arrest, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said- ‘Whoever is guilty of giving clean chit to Pooja Singhal in February 2017, the state government will take action against them. He said- the government was keeping an eye on the whole matter. Whatever legal action will be taken on this, the government will take it.
