Suspended Jharkhand IAS officer gets interim bail in money laundering case

Pooja Singhal has been in custody since May 11 after raids were conducted at properties linked to her

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal in a money laundering case to look after her ailing daughter.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka also directed the Enforcement Directorate to respond in three weeks to Singhal's main bail plea.

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 said.

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 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 top court sought the probe agency's response on Singhal's interim bail plea. Issue notice returnable in the re-opening miscellaneous week of January, 2023 both in the SLP as well as on the application for interim bail.

In the meantime, the respondent is directed to verify the medical status of the daughter of the petitioner, the bench had said.

During the earlier hearing, Singhal's counsel submitted that his client's daughter needed to be looked after due to a medical condition.

The top court had asked the anti-money laundering probe agency to verify the condition of her daughter and inform the bench.

It was hearing an appeal filed by Singhal against the Jharkhand high court order dismissing her bail plea.

Apart from the 2000-batch IAS officer, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant associated with the couple and others were also raided by the ED as part of a money laundering probe linked to a case of alleged corruption in the MGNREGA scheme.

Singhal was suspended by the state government following her arrest.

Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant linked to Singhal and her husband, was also arrested by the agency and cash totalling Rs 19.76 crore was seized from him.