Declining to grant any relief to Abhishek Jha today, a vacation bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice MM Sundresh posted the matter for “preliminary hearing” on July 5.
IAS officer Puja Singhal being taken to court by ED officials
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to protect from arrest, for now, Abhishek Jha, the businessman husband of suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, in a case of alleged embezzlement of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Declining to grant any relief to Abhishek Jha today, a vacation bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice MM Sundresh posted the matter for “preliminary hearing” on July 5 before a regular bench hearing the matter relating to the suspended IAS officer arising out of embezzlement of funds.
The Pooja Singhal matter, being heard by a bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, is listed for hearing on September 25, 2023.
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Jha has approached the top court seeking anticipatory bail, challenging the June 18 Jharkhand High Court order declining his plea for pre-arrest bail in the case.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating the money laundering dimension of the case in which both Pooja Singhal and Abhishek Jha are accused.
Last week also the top court vacation bench had declined to grant interim protection from arrest to Jha.
A 2000-batch IAS officer Pooja Singhal along with her husband and others are arrayed as accused by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in an alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and some other suspicious financial transactions during 2009-2010 in Khunti district.
The ED has accused the suspended IAS officer of money laundering and said it has seized more than Rs 36 crore cash linked to alleged illegal mining as part of two separate money laundering investigations.
Apart from Singhal, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant Suman Kumar, associated with the couple, and others were also raided by the ED as part of the money laundering probe. Suman Kumar was also arrested by the ED and cash totalling Rs 19.76 crore was seized from him.
Singhal, who was holding the charge of Jharkhand Mining Secretary, was suspended by the state government following her arrest by the ED.
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