IAS officer Pooja Singhal suspended after arrest in money laundering case

New Delhi, May 12, 2022

A day after her arrested in a PMLA case, Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal was suspended today from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

The action against her was taken by the Department of Personnel and Training.

Singhal is presently in ED's custody for five days in connection with alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds in Jharkhand.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is scanning her transactions of the last three years. The agency is also scanning details of all her properties.

Earlier four cars belonging to her chartered accountant Suman Kumar were seized. The source said that someone else had made the payments for the luxury cars, which was 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 it was Singhal's money. The ED will try to know from where this cash came from.

Kumar, who worked for Singhal and her husband, was placed under arrest on Saturday following several raids. Kumar was then sent to five days ED's custody.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had last week conducted raids at more than 18 places -- Ranchi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Kollata, Muzaffarpur, Saharsa, and in several parts of NCR, including Faridabad, Noida and Gurugram.

IANS