Ranchi ED court frames charges against suspended Jharkhand IAS officer, CA

Ranchi: The Prevention of Money Laundering Act special court in the Jharkhand capital has framed charges against suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal in a money laundering case. The charge has been framed under sections 3 and 4 of the said law. With the development now trial can be started against the suspended senior bureaucrat of Jharkhand.

Earlier, on April 3, the special ED court had rejected Singhal’s discharge petition. Singhal is accused of laundering money earned by the MNREGA scam. Singhal is currently on provisional bail. The Supreme Court has given her interim bail of 2 months with several conditions to serve her ailing daughter. Other than the suspended  IAS officer, charges have also been framed against CA Suman Kumar and former Khunti district assistant engineer Shashi Prakash for the same reason.

Both were presented before the court through video conferencing. Suman Kumar is the CA of suspended IAS Pooja Singhal’s husband Abhishek Jha and Shashi Prakash is an engineer. Both are currently in judicial custody. Shashi Prakash himself surrendered before the court whereas Suman Kumar was arrested by the ED. Singhal had been detained by the ED on May 11 last year in connection with a money laundering case involving alleged MGNREGA funds misappropriation in Jharkhand’s Khunti district.

After two days of interrogation, she was arrested. The agency had taken her into custody for five days beginning May 12 and was later extended to May 25 by the special PMLA court. She was apprehended when the ED conducted operations in four states. The agency recovered Rs 17 crore from her husband’s chartered accountant Suman Kumar’s home.