NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to a Jharkhand cadre IAS officer, Pooja Singhal to look after her ailing daughter. The officer was arrested on lodging of a number of cases including a money laundering one.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka provided her interim relief even though Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED, contended that the plea was incorrect and devoid of merits.
Singhal, a former state mines department secretary, has been in custody since May last year, after raids were conducted at properties connected with her.
On her bail plea, the bench directed the ED to submit its reply in three weeks as her counsel prayed for taking a lenient view since her daughter needed to be looked after due to a medical condition.
The ED has claimed that its team seized more than Rs 36 crore cash linked to alleged illegal mining as part of two separate money laundering investigations.
Following the arguments, the court granted interim bail to Singhal and fixed the matter for further hearing on February 6.
The top court asked Singhal to abstain from visiting Ranchi unless a court case is listed there.
The bench also ordered that the ED, to verify the medical status of the daughter of the petitioner.
Singhal challenged the Jharkhand high court, which dismissed her bail plea.
The EDs raids were linked to a money laundering probe in connection with a case of alleged corruption in the MGNREGA scheme. A chartered accountant linked to Singhal and her husband were also arrested by the agency.
The ED had claimed that material recovered from Singhal, after her arrest, showed direct linkage with political higher ups.
Singhal was the Secretary of the Department of Mines and Geology and the Managing Director of Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation Limited (JSMDC). On May 11, 2022, the ED arrested her and she was suspended by the Jharkhand government on May 12.
