Indian Administrative Service officer Pooja Singhal has got a major relief from Jharkhand High Court as a PIL seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the MGNREGA Scam was closed by the Court on Monday.
The court has executed a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) to investigate the role of Pooja Singhal as the then Deputy Commissioner in the MGNREGA scam in Khunti district. A bench of Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Deepak Roshan said on Monday that the police and the Anti-Corruption Bureau have investigated the matter. A charge sheet has also been filed in the case. There is no issue left in this now, so this case is executed the court closed the case after disposing it.
“The court observed that now there is no issue left in it as the police and ACB have investigated the matter and filed the charge sheet against the accused in the case, therefore closed the PIL,” said Advocate appearing on behalf of the state government, Piyush Chitresh.
As per details, there was an allegation of financial irregularities of more than Rs 200 crore in MGNREGA schemes in Khunti. During that time Pooja Singhal was the Deputy Commissioner of Khunti. 16 FIRs were registered in various police stations of Khunti district regarding this matter. Later, the investigation of this case was handed over to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The petitioner had alleged that the entire matter was investigated by the ACB, but the role of the then Deputy Commissioner Pooja Singhal was not investigated in it. The Deputy Commissioner had signed the cheque related to payment in MNREGA. There was a request to get his role investigated by the ED. Later, the High Court took suo motu cognizance of the matter.
Singhal, who was in jail for the last 28 months in a money laundering case linked to the MGNREGA scam, was granted bail by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi in December last year.
The petitioner, in his PIL, had alleged that the entire matter was being investigated by ACB, but the role of Singhal was not investigated, despite the fact that cheques were signed by the Deputy Commissioner only. A request was made to get her role investigated by ED.
It is noteworthy that the applicant had filed a PIL demanding an investigation into the role of the then Deputy Commissioner of Khunti, Pooja Singhal. Earlier, the ED, after interrogation for over 15 hours, had arrested the then mining secretary Pooja Singhal on May 11, 2022 in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and other charges. The 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was arrested on the second day of the questioning being done by the ED officials.