The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Abhishek Jha, the husband of suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, in a money laundering case arising out of the alleged MNREGA scam in the State.
Singhal, a 2000-batch IAS officer, is the main accused in the alleged scam involving embezzlement of public funds of Rs 18.07 crore when she was the deputy commissioner of Khunti district. A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and MM Sundresh declined to grant relief to Jha and posted the matter for hearing on July 5.
Jha has challenged the May 18 order of the Jharkhand High Court denying him bail in the case. His lawyer had earlier mentioned the matter seeking an urgent hearing. On May 18, the High Court dismissed anticipatory bail plea of Jha and had asked him to surrender before court in four weeks.