New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday seized Rs 3 crore in cash during searches in a money laundering case related to IAS officer Pooja Singhal and others in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, officials said.
He said a few cartons of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes were seized on a large scale from the premises of a person identified as Mohammad Izhar Ansari.
Pooja Singhal, a 2,000 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on May 11 last year in a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in the MGNREGA scheme.
In February this year, the Supreme Court had granted two months interim bail to suspended officer Singhal to take care of his ailing daughter.
The ED is also probing his role in another case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In this case, he has been accused of alleged irregularities in the mining sector of the state.
Who is Pooja Singhal?
Pooja Singhal is a 2000 batch IAS officer. In the case related to misappropriation of MGNREGA funds, a large amount of money was recovered from the house of his close relatives. Rs 19.31 crore was seized during raids at a chartered accountant close to Ranchi-based Pooja Singhal.
The ED on Friday carried out searches at the residences and premises of former Jharkhand Mineral Development Corporation (JSMDC) project director Ashok Kumar Singh, besides several other companies in connection with a coal linkage abuse case.