NEW DELHI: A Special court here on Wednesday took cognizance of a supplementary charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against arrested IAS officer Pooja Singhal and five other persons.
The ED in a statement said that Special Court in Ranchi has taken cognizance of a supplementary charge sheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA) against Singhal, Abhishek Jha, Jai Kishore Chaudhary (E.E.), Shashi Prakash (E.E.), RK Jain (A.E.) and Suman Kumar (CA).
Earlier, ED had arrested Suman Kumar on May 7 and Singh on May 11. Both were arrested after the ED carried out searches on May 6 at 27 different premises located in Ranchi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Faridabad, Gurugram and Muzaffarpur.
During the search proceedings, a cash amount of Rs 19.76 crore, four vehicles including two high-end cars (Jaguar F Pace and Toyota Fortuner) and various incriminating documents and digital devices were seized.
ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of 16 FIRs registered under various sections by the Jharkhand Police after the Audit team found total embezzlement of Rs 18.06 crore in the work done under the MGNREGA scheme at Khunti District.
The ED said that its probe revealed that the commission was paid to Singhal, who was then Deputy Commissioner of the Khunti district by the Ram Binod Sinha and other engineers, in respect of the sanctioning of funds.
It said Singhal and her husband Jha have also deposited a huge amount of cash in their bank accounts during the period of the scheduled offence which was subsequently utilised for the purpose of acquisition of various properties.
The ED claimed that Suman Kumar was found to be involved in the collection of illicit money on behalf of Singhal.
It further alleged that the accused persons have also invested huge proceeds of crime acquired by Singhal in various immovable properties.
Earlier in the case, attachment to the tune of Rs 4.28 crore was done by ED.