The Khunti district MGNREGA scam in Jharkhand is one of the high profile scams that has made to the limelight of the present day, which actually dates back to Jharkhand of the 2010s. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is currently investigating the MGNREGA scam case of Rs 18.8 crore in the Khunti district as well as the irregularities in Chatra combining Rs 6 crore in Jharkhand. Along with this, the ED is probing the wrongful allotment of forest land for Palamu’s Kathotia Mines. The ED has given this information to the Jharkhand High Court while it has launched a fresh probe against IAS officer Pooja Singhal who was DC of the respective districts.
On April 11, a division bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad directed the CBI to investigate the scam as well as the role of police officials who kept investigations of the cases pending for the last decade. The investigation into the scam and the money-laundering cases, however, can be best understood by peeping into the actors involved in the scam and the dramatic turns which unfolded the truth in the case until now.
District Magistrate Pooja Singhal and her Husband
On May 6, The Enforcement Directorate arrested Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal in the money laundering case related to the said embezzlement of MGNREGA funds during public works in the Khunti district of Jharkhand. Singhal, who is a 2000 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer is being probed under charges of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the ED. Reportedly, on May 6, the central agency had also briefly questioned her during the raids at her residence and other locations, along with her businessman husband Abhishek Jha and others. Her husband had been questioned by the agency and his statement was recorded.
Ranchi | Jharkhand Mines Secretary Pooja Singhal arrested by Enforcement Directorate.
— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2022
She was arrested by ED in a money laundering probe linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds & other charges. pic.twitter.com/bdVXFpAteb
Earlier the ED on Thursday, May 5, conducted raids at multiple premises, including that of Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal, in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to the alleged embezzlement of over Rs 18 crore MGNREGA funds in Khunti district of the state during 2008-11. According to the officials said the premises of the IAS officer and secretary of the department of mines and geology of Jharkhand government Pooja Singhal in Ranchi were being probed as part of the action.
The investigation against Singhal and her family members dates back to the money laundering case in which a former junior engineer in the Jharkhand government, Ram Binod Prasad Sinha, was arrested by the ED in June 2020. During the course of the probe, charges of irregularities were made against Singhal by the ED. During this time, Singhal served as the deputy commissioner and district magistrate of Chatra, Khunti and Palamu districts between 2007 and 2013.
Ranchi | Visuals from the residence of Jharkhand Mines & Geology Department Secretary, Pooja Singhal where ED is conducting a raid. pic.twitter.com/w3cgxqDzj8
— ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2022
In a remand note presented to the court, it was mentioned that Singhal and her husband received huge cash deposits amounting to Rs 1.43 crore over and above her salary in her family accounts. This was during the period concerning which she and her husband are facing charges of irregularities while Singhal was being posted as the DM at Khunti and other districts. IAS officer Pooja Singhal also transferred Rs 16.57 lakh from her personal account to an account controlled by her CA Suman Kumar.
Singhal’s CA Suman Kumar
The course of events turned dramatic when the federal agency arrested Singhal’s chartered accountant Suman Kumar on May 7 after over Rs 17 crore cash was recovered from his premises. During the interrogation, the CA revealed that the majority of the cash out of the Rs 17.49 crore belongs to Singhal. According to the ED, out of the Rs 17.49 crore nabbed from Kumar, Rs 16.57 crore was transferred by Singhal in the account administered by him.
BREAKING: Enforcement Directorate (@dir_ed) has seized Rs 17 crore in cash from the premises of a Chartered Accountant (CA) who is said to be associated with Jharkhand Mining Department Secretary Pooja Singhal, reports @Anand_Journ @HemantSorenJMM @JharkhandPolice @JharkhandCMO pic.twitter.com/RBpiLHggSa
— The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) May 6, 2022
During Kumar’s interrogation, he revealed that the cash was collected by him on Pooja Singhal’s instruction. Further, under Singhal’s direction, Kumar gave Rs 3 Crores in cash to a renowned builder for purchasing the land for Pulse Hospital owned by Pooja Singhal and her family. Following this, ED searches were being carried out under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at about 18 premises in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and a few other states. Some other locations in Ranchi including the Pulse hospital were also being raided by ED officials who were provided security by CRPF personnel.
ED CONDUCTS RAIDS AT RESIDENCE OF POOJA SINGHAL IAS
— Kushal Kumar Sinha (@KushalSinha001) May 6, 2022
Just to let you know, her husband in the recent years has established a full fledged hospital and a diagnostic centre in Ranchi pic.twitter.com/HGZEZWLWpR
Ram Binod Prasad Sinha
It all started when a money laundering case was filed against a former junior engineer in the Jharkhand government, Ram Binod Prasad Sinha. In June 2020, Sinha was arrested from the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal by the ED after PMLA charges were booked against him in 2012. This started after the Jharkhand state vigilance bureau registered charges against him.
After this, the ED took cognisance of 16 FIRs and charge sheets filed against Sinha that accused him of abusing his official position for embezzling over ₹18.06 crore from government funds by way of forgery and misappropriation.
Ram Sinha was booked by the vigilance bureau under criminal sections of the IPC pertaining to cheating and corruption for allegedly defrauding public money and investing the same in his own name as well as in the name of his family members. He did the same while working as a junior engineer from April 1, 2008, to March 21, 2011. The said money was commissioned for the execution of government projects under the MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme in the Khunti district of Jharkhand. As told to the ED, Sinha claimed to have paid a five per cent commission out of the defrauded funds to the district administration.
In December 2018, when The ED filed a charge sheet against Sinha following which the special court in Ranchi issued a summons to him, he did not appear before the court. Then, the local court issued a non-bailable warrant against him on the basis of which a manhunt search was launched against him by the ED. Sinha was finally arrested in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas while he was hiding. After a revelation, Sinha’s assets worth ₹4.28 crore were also attached by the ED.
According to the ED, Sinha used to regularly transfer government project funds to his personal accounts and thus generated illegitimate income out of his criminal misconduct while working as a public servant. The ED said, “It was found that movable and immovable properties have been acquired by the accused (Sinha) in his name as well as in the name of his family members.”
The turning point
In Chatra, during 2007-08, a case of discrepancy in MNREGA funds came to the fore. Rs 6 crore was given to two NGOs. On the other hand, 83 acres of land were given to a private company for mining at Kathoutia Mines in the Palamu district. It is alleged that the forest land was allotted to the company wrongly. During both cases, Pooja Singhal was the District Collector. At the same time, during the interrogation of ED, Ram Binod Kumar Sinha, the deputy engineer confessed that he used to give the commission amount to everyone.
After the matter was raised in the state assembly, the state government conducted an independent investigation in the case. DC Pooja Singhal had already received a clean cheat then. But a PIL filed by activist Arun Kumar Dubey in the Jharkhand High Court prompted the administration to start the probe into the case afresh. As of now, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Ravi Kejriwal has also been interrogated by the ED in the case. Kejriwal was once considered a close aide of current Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.
