ED continues to quiz IAS officer, DMOs

Ranchi: The enforcement directorate (ED) on Tuesday interrogated suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal, chartered accountant Suman Kumar and the district mining officers (DMOs) of Dumka and Pakur in connection with the MGNREGA scam, money laundering and recovery of a huge amount of cash during the raids conducted from May 6.
DMOs Krishna Chandra Kisku (Dumka and Pradip Kumar (Sah Pakur) were broadly questioned to ascertain whether Singhal was involved in corrupt practices during her stint as the secretary in the mining department.ED would also be assessing the moveable and immoveable properties of the DMOs.
Sources said the ED’s move shows that the agency would thoroughly investigate the irregularities and money laundering by officials of the mining department as well. Notably, former chief minister Raghubar Das had accused his successor Hemant Soren’s press advisor Abhishek Prasad and representative Pankaj Mishra used their influence to secure mining leases in Sahebganj.