Papers seized from IAS officer Pooja Singhal link higher-ups: SG Tushar Mehta

The submission essentially linked two petitions – one on shell companies, and another on investigation into the MGNREGA funds pilferage in which Singhal had been arrested. A bench of Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad then ordered to place MGNREGA investigation writ petition of 2019 ‘side by side’ with this matter (shell companies) on the next date of hearing’ on May 19.

The submission was made on May 17 in the High Court, however, the detailed order was made available on Wednesday.

Earlier during the hearing on May 13, Mehta had said that materials collected during ED operations had made “certain startling revelations connected with the subject matter of

this (shell companies) Public Interest Litigation”. As per the court documents of May 17, the sealed cover was perused by the Jharkhand High Court ‘considering the public interest at large’, however, the contents were not made public.

“…the Secretary (Mines) of Jharkhand has been apprehended and incriminating materials as contained in the sealed cover have been recovered from her possession. As such, for public interest at large and for a fair investigation, it is necessary to hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation,” Mehta had submitted.

The plea for CBI investigation by Mehta was earlier objected to by Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the state, stating that since there is no FIR (in the shell companies), investigations can’t be transferred to the CBI.