New Delhi: After a day of grilling, IAS Pooja Singhal, the mining secretary in Jharkhand, was again at the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s office in Ranchi on Wednesday, for further questioning in the ongoing probe in the Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to the alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA Funds.
The ED reportedly will also scan the transactions done in the last three years through Singhal’s accounts. Sources said that this would be done to check suspicious money trail if any. The agency is also scanning all her properties.
A source said that four cars have been seized from her husband Abhishek Jha’s CA Suman Kumar. The source said that someone else had made the payments for the luxury cars, which is suspicious. Kumar was arrested by the agency on Saturday.
Cash of around Rs 19 crore was recovered during the raids by the ED. It is said that the cash belonged to Singhal and the ED will try to locate the source.
Singhal on Tuesday reached the Ranchi-based Zonal office of ED and joined the investigation. She was grilled for hours. Her Husband’s statement was recorded on Sunday.
Chartered Accountant Kumar, who works for the IAS officer and her husband, was placed under arrest on Saturday following several raids. Kumar was then sent to five days ED custody which is ending on Wednesday.
The ED had on Friday recovered Rs 19.31 crore cash and a few incriminating documents from the premises of Kumar.
Kumar came on the radar during the course of Investigation. Kumar also handles accounts of Singhal’s husband.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had last week conducted raids at more than 18 places.
The raids were conducted at Ranchi, Chandigarh, Faridabad, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Muzaffarpur, Saharsa, and several parts of NCR, including Faridabad and Gurugram.
–IANS