'Jharkhand IAS officer and husband had huge cash in accounts, transferred to CA'

Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal and her husband received huge cash deposits to the tune of Rs 143 crore over and above her salary in their accounts during the period she faced charges of irregularities while being posted as the DM of various districts in the state the ED has saidThe federal agency also told a special PMLA court in Ranchi that the IAS officer allegedly transferred Rs 1657 lakh from her personal account to those controlled or owned by her CA Suman KumarKumar was arrested on Saturday for alleged money laundering in a case linked to alleged fraud of MGNREGA moneyThe 39yearold was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate from Ranchi after the agency conducted multicity raids against him Singhal her businessman husband Abhishek Jha and others on May 6The special court sent him to ED custody till May 11The ED said it has seized over Rs 1779 crore in cash from the residential and office premises of the chartered accountantOfficials had deployed machines to count the cash haul and photos and videos of this exercise was widely shared over social mediaThe overall cash seizure after these raids as per the agency stands at Rs 1931 crore with seizure also being made from another location in RanchiSeeking Kumars custody the agency in its remand note said the CA was withholding information regarding the source of the cash seized from his house and was not disclosing the actual owner of the cashThe agency alleged in the court document that Singhal an Indian Administrative Service IAS officer of the 2000 batch used funds that were deposited in cash in her banks accounts while she served as DC of three districts during 20072013 to purchase life insurance policiesThe ED investigation pertains to a money laundering case in which former junior engineer in the Jharkhand government Ram Binod Prasad Sinha was arrested by the agency on June 17 2020 from West Bengal after he was booked by the agency under the PMLA in 2012 after studying the FIRs of the state vigilance bureau against himSinha was booked by the vigilance bureau under criminal sections of the Indian Penal Code IPC pertaining to cheating and corruption for allegedly defrauding public money and investing it in his own name as well as in the name of his family members while working as junior engineer from April 1 2008 to March 21 2011The said money was earmarked for the execution of government projects under MNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Khunti district the agency had earlier saidSinha told the ED that he paid 5 per cent commission out of the defrauded funds to the district administrationDuring the period the ED said in the lastest note various charges of irregularities were made against Singhal while she served as the deputy commissionerdistrict magistrate of Chatra Khunti and Palamu between 20072013Hence the account statements of Smt Pooja Singhal was called from various banks and financial institutions The accounts of Smt Pooja Singhal and Shri Abhishek Jha husband of Smt Pooja Singhal is having huge cash deposits to the tune of Rs 143 crore during the same crime period the ED allegedShe served as the DC of Khunti district between February 16 2009 and July 19 2010 the alleged crime period for which Sinha is being probedIt added that the cash deposited in different financial years were over and above the salary of SinghalThe IAS officer the ED said purchased 13 policies and paid premium of Rs 8081 lakh between 200506 and 201213 fiscal and later closed them policies prematurely and received closure amount of Rs 8464 lakhThe agency said out of this amount Singhal transferred Rs 396 lakh from her account to that of Kumar in 2015It said another amount of over Rs 639 lakh from the said closure funds was transferred in 2016 to the account of Santosh Crusher Metal Works a partnership firm incorporated by Kumar and where the CAs father is a partnerThe agency said a third amount of Rs 622 lakh was transferred by her in 2017 to a company called Radhey Shyam Explosives Pvt LtdAll three accounts were related to Suman Kumar The total amount transferred from her Singhals personal account to these accounts is Rs 1657 lakh the ED told the courtThe agency is soon expected to summon the bureaucrat and her husband to further record their statements in the caseThe agency is also looking at the business transactions and other finances of a multispeciality hospital based in Ranchi which is allegedly managed by Singhals husbandED officials had earlier said they seized a number of incriminating documents that indicate political and higher bureaucracy links with alleged illegal mining activities in the state during the raidsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its 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