The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim bail for one month to suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal who sought the relief to look after her ailing daughter.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka granted interim bail to Singhal and imposed some conditions on her. The top court, which has now listed the suspended IAS officer’s plea for hearing on February 6, has imposed some conditions, including that she will not visit Ranchi unless a court case is listed for hearing in the city.
Singhal’s counsel earlier submitted that her daughter needs to be looked after due to a medical condition and sought bail on that ground.
Appearing for the anti-money laundering probe agency, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju said the plea was incorrect and devoid of merits. I will be the last person to oppose such pleas, the law officer pleaded in the Court.
The top court has now listed the plea for hearing on February 6 and asked the Enforcement Directorate to file response in three weeks to Singhal’s main bail plea.
The top court was hearing an appeal filed by Singhal, a Jharkhand cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, against the Jharkhand High Court order dismissing her bail plea.
She has been in custody since May 11 after raids were conducted at properties linked to her. The Enforcement Directorate has accused Singhal of money laundering saying more than Rs. 36 crore cash, linked to alleged illegal mining, was seized by its teams as part of two separate money laundering investigations.
Singhal has been in custody since May 11 after raids were conducted at properties linked to her. The ED has accused Singhal, a former state mines department secretary, of money laundering and said its team seized more than Rs 36 crore cash linked to alleged illegal mining as part of two separate money laundering investigations.
Earlier, the Ranchi PMLA court and then Jharkhand High Court had rejected her bail petition. The Jharkhand High Court in its order had stated that owing to the enormity of the crime bail can’t be granted to her. The ED had submitted before the high court that she had even tried to get a fake medical report to get bail.
Notably, the ED has charged her for committing a scam worth Rs 18.06 Crore in the execution of the MGNREGA project in Khunti district where she was posted as DC during the period 16th February 2009 to 19th July 2010. She was the principal authority for sanctioning funds for different development projects. The ED claimed that she invested the proceeds of crime in the construction of Pulse Super Speciality Hospital owned by her husband.