Supreme court grants 1-month bail to former Jharkhand mines secretary Pooja Singhal

By Chandrajit Mukherjee
RANCHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted one-month interim bail to suspended IAS officer and former Jharkhand mines secretary Pooja Singhal. Singhal has been ordered to be released for 30 days by the apex court for the medical treatment of her daughter.
Singhal's daughter requires medical consultation and her lawyers pleaded on her behalf that she be released to help her. The Supreme Court while considering the plea of her daughter's ill health has forbidden Singhal to be in Jharkhand during the period of her bail.
Singhal, a former secretary in the mines department, had come in the eye of the storm after a prosecution was launched by the enforcement directorate against her MGNREGA scam and money laundering case. She was taken into custody in May last year and her bail pleas were rejected by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court and the Jharkhand high court.
The ED had conducted raids in as many as 25 properties of Singhal and her relatives. Her chartered accountant Suman Singh's house and office were also raided from where Rs 19.31 crores in cash was recovered.