Two days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized crores of rupees in cash from the house of the Chartered Accountant of IAS Pooja Singhal, the usual troupe of fake news peddlers tried to pass off an old picture of Amit Shah with the civil servant as a recent image. In a desperate attempt to link Amit Shah to Pooja Singhal, an image from 2017 was called ‘recent’.
Regular fake news peddler and alleged film director Avinash Das was among the first to start this fake news when he posted a picture of IAS Singhal whispering in the ears of the Union Home Minister. While sharing the image, he tweeted, “This picture of Pooja Singhal was taken a few days prior to the recovery of crores of rupees.”
The same picture was posted by another Twitter user named Shahid, who insinuated that the duo are hand-in-gloves in the case of embezzlement of MNREGA funds in Jharkhand.
Another user claimed that the picture was clicked before the ED recovered ₹19.1 crores in cash from IAS Singhal’s CA’s house.
Similar allegations were also made by another Twitter user named Saba Khan.
The Truth behind the Amit Shah- Pooja Singhal image
Popular Twitter user Lala (@FabulasGuy) pointed out that the said image was clicked during an event in September 2017. He had shared a screenshot of a Prabhat Khabar article where a wide-angle shot was captured.
Lala lambasted the fake news peddlers for passing off a 5-year-old image as new.”Who made IAS Pooja Singhal the Managing Director of Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation Limited”, he asked.
किसने बनाया बे डायरेक्टर, 2017 की फ़ोटो को थोड़े दिन पहले की लिख रहा। pic.twitter.com/pQwsFbu6rG
— Lala 🇮🇳 (@FabulasGuy) May 8, 2022
The Case against Pooja Singhal
Pooja Singhal is a 2000 batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre. On May 6, 2022, six places in Ranchi were raided by ED, one of which is a super specialty hospital of her second husband. Her first husband is a 1999 batch IAS officer in Jharkhand.
The probe pertains to a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the Enforcement Directorate in 2020 against Jharkhand junior engineer Ram Binod Prasad Sinha.
The central probe agency had taken cognizance of 16 FIRs and a charge sheet filed by the Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau against Sinha, according to which Sinha was accused of misappropriating government funds worth Rs 18.06 crore. Ram Binod Prasad Sinha was a junior engineer in Khunti when Pooja Singhal was the District Collector of Khunti.
Sinha is reported to have told the investigators that Pooja Singhal had obliged two NGOs, Welfare Point and Prerna Niketan with Rs 6 crores fund and had granted a mining lease on 83 acres of forest land in contravention of the environmental regulations. As deputy commissioners in Chatra, Palamu, and Khunti districts, she is alleged to have committed irregularities in the MNRGEA funds as well.
