Jharkhand high court rejects bail plea of former mines secretary Pooja Singhal

By Chandrajit Mukherjee
RANCHI: The Jharkhand high court on Thursday rejected the bail application of former mines secretary Pooja Singhal. The court of Justice S K Dwivedi refused to grant bail to Singhal after hearing the petition at length.
In his order, Justice Dwivedi observed that Singhal being a senior IAS officer is alleged to have indulged in corruption which is not befitting of a bureaucrat and is not deserving of bail. The court also did not consider the pleas of Singhal’s advocate claiming that she is unwell and required better medical treatment.
The court also observed in its order that Singhal at the time of her arrest was presented before the sadar hospital and all her ailments were taken care of. She has been provided with proper medical aid and attention as and when it is required and is not a consideration for her to be released from custody.
The enforcement directorate (ED) also informed the court that Singhal has indulged in corruption and misused her office to amass wealth beyond her known sources of income. Large amounts of cash have been seized which are linked to Singhal and no plausible explanation has been accorded by her to the ED, the counsel said.
Singhal came into the eye of the storm after ED sleuths conducted raids in numerous places belonging to the IAS officer. A sum of Rs 19.31 crores was recovered from the house of one Suman Singh who was the chartered accountant of the Singhal family. Singh has admitted to the ED that the money belonged to Singhal.
Singhal was taken into custody on May 11 earlier this year after the raids, which were conducted by the ED in 25 different locations across the state and the country linked to the IAS officer. Raids were also conducted in the houses of close relatives of the bureaucrat.
She had earlier moved before the court of the special enforcement directorate court for bail which was rejected on August 3. Thereafter, she moved the bail application for grant of bail before the high court which was dismissed on Thursday.