The Enforcement Directorate has submitted a fifth supplementary charge sheet in a PMLA Special Court in Ranchi related to the alleged MGNREGA scam in Jharkhand’s Khunti district. The charge sheet includes five additional accused, among them close relatives of IAS officer Pooja Singhal. Those named in the charge sheet are Singhal’s mother Kamlesh Singhal, brother Siddharth Singhal, mother-in-law Amita Jha, Radheshyam Fireworks LLP, and Pawan Kumar Singh, the brother of Chartered Accountant Suman Kumar.
The accused mentioned in the latest charge sheet are suspected of being involved in concealing and laundering proceeds of crime associated with significant irregularities in the MGNREGA schemes’ implementation in Khunti. The Enforcement Directorate has also requested the attachment of a 17-decimal plot in Ranchi’s Boreya area, valued at approximately Rs 1.33 crore, which it alleges was purchased using illicit funds.
The case stems from 16 FIRs filed by the Jharkhand Police and the state Vigilance Bureau. Investigations reveal that between 2009 and 2011, out of about Rs 24 crore allocated for development projects in Khunti, nearly Rs 18.06 crore was reportedly misappropriated through fraudulent practices and inflated billing. The ED asserts that Pooja Singhal, the then Deputy Commissioner of Khunti, played a pivotal role in the scam by facilitating approvals in exchange for commissions of up to five percent and providing support to involved officials.
According to probe findings, funds were injected as share capital into a private company through bank accounts linked to Amita Jha, while similar investments were made by Siddharth Singhal. The ED alleges that the Boreya land parcel was acquired through Radheshyam Fireworks LLP using laundered money, with Pawan Kumar Singh and Kamlesh Singhal listed as nominal partners to hide the actual ownership.
Previously, the ED had filed a prosecution complaint against eight individuals, including Pooja Singhal, her husband Abhishek Jha, and Suman Kumar. During searches conducted on May 6, 2022, the agency seized Rs 19.31 crore in cash from locations associated with Suman Kumar, marking a significant development in the case. The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached multiple assets, with approvals secured from the Adjudicating Authority, and continues its ongoing investigation.
