Jharkhand IAS Officer Pooja Singhal's Bail Plea Denied by SC in Money Laundering Case

First it was your daughter and then something else. On March 15, the ED opposed the bail application of Singhal, claiming she has spent most of her time outside jail while in custody in a money laundering case.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea of suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal seeking bail in a money laundering case.

A bench of justices Sanjeev Khanna and Dipankar Datta refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court order denying her bail and said it is an ''extraordinary case''.

The top court noted that out of 17 prosecution witnesses, 12 have been examined by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and hoped that the trial in the case is concluded expeditiously.

''You wait for some time for bail. This is not a normal matter but an extraordinary case. There is something seriously wrong in this case. We are not inclined to entertain the instant petition. We hope the trial will proceed expeditiously,'' it observed.

The bench, however, gave liberty to Singhal to revive her bail plea, if the trial is prolonged or if there is any other change in circumstance.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, opposed the bail plea and said out of the total custody period, she has spent most of the time in hospital.

Raju informed the court that out of 687 days in custody in the case, Singhal has been in hospital for 481 days.

The bench told senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal, appearing for Singhal, ''Charges against your client are fairly severe. The amount of cash recovered is also substantial.'' It added, ''This is not a normal but an extraordinary case. Had it been a normal case, we would have granted you bail.'' Agarwal pointed out that there are no sufficient medical facilities in Birsa Munda Central jail in Ranchi, where Singhal has been in judicial custody.

The bench said, ''Don't worry. You are young enough. First it was your daughter and then something else.'' On March 15, the ED opposed the bail application of Singhal, claiming she has spent most of her time outside jail while in custody in a money laundering case. The top court took a serious note of the ED's claim and asked it to file a tabulated chart with details of Singhal's time spent in custody.

It had said if the court finds that she has spent more than 50 per cent of time in custody in hospital, then it will not hear her bail application.

On February 10, 2023, the top court had granted Singhal interim bail for two months to enable her to take care of her ailing daughter.

Singhal has been in custody since May 11, 2022 after raids were conducted at properties linked to her in connection with the money laundering case.

The case relates to alleged corruption in the implementation of MGNREGA, the Centre's flagship scheme for rural employment.

The ED has accused Singhal, a former state mines department secretary, of money laundering and said its team seized more than Rs 36 crore cash linked to alleged illegal mining as part of two separate money laundering investigations.

Apart from the 2000 batch IAS officer, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant associated with the couple, and others were also raided by the ED as part of the money laundering probe.

Singhal was suspended following her arrest.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)