Supreme Court Rejects Ex-IAS Officer Pooja Singhal's Plea For Bail In Money Laundering Case Over Alleged Embezzlement Of MNREGA Funds

The Supreme Court on Monday (April 29) refused to grant bail to ex-IAS officer Pooja Singhal in a money laundering case pending against her over alleged embezzlement of MNREGA funds in Khunti district.

The Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was hearing Singhal's appeal against a Jharkhand High Court order by which she was denied bail. After hearing the parties, Justice Khanna dictated: "We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment and hence special leave petition is dismissed...We hope and trust that the trial will proceed expeditiously."

Singhal was however given liberty to revive the prayer for bail in case of changed circumstances, or if the trial gets prolonged due to reasons not attributable to her/co-accused.

The decision came as ED informed the court that 12 out of 17 witnesses sought to be examined had already deposed.

Court Observations

At the outset of the hearing, ASG SV Raju (for ED) pressed that a substantial amount of time under custody was spent by Singhal in hospitals. 

Sr Adv Siddharth Aggarwal (for Singhal) on the other hand informed that 16 FIRs had been registered in the case (and chargesheets filed), but Singhal was not accused in any. The acts are attributed to 4 specific persons, who have been identified. After 8 years, one of these persons has given a statement regarding 5% commission being given to Singhal.

After hearing the counsels, J Khanna said to Aggarwal: "That's the way they reached you. But thereafter when they went to the Chartered Accountant etc. the whole thing blew up. In fact, by now they should have taken more steps in the predicate offence".

Commenting further that it was an "extraordinary case", the judge pointed out that the charges against Singhal were fairly severe and the amount of cash recovered from her Chartered Accountant ie 17.7 crores was also substantial.

When Raju apprised the state of examination, Aggarwal urged that instead of 19, 33 witnesses had been cited by the prosecution. Justice Khanna however proceeded by recording ED's statement regarding 19 witnesses, and remarked to Singhal's lawyers, "If this was a normal case, we would have probably granted you bail...wait for some time more".

A contention regarding Singhal's medical condition (about her having a seizure the past week) also did not weigh with the bench. "First it's your daughter, now something else...", J Khanna was heard expressing, before adding that there was something "seriously wrong" in the case.

Background

To recap, Singhal was arrested in 2022 over allegations of embezzlement of MGNREGA funds in Khunti district during 2009-2010 and some other suspicious financial transactions.

The case of the ED was that Singhal used to receive a 5% “illegal commission” in development projects in Khunti from funds she disbursed for the works under MGNREGA.

In February 2023, Singhal was granted bail by a Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul led Bench for the purposes of attending to her daughter for a period of two months. Thereafter, she surrendered.

Case Title: Pooja Singhal v. Directorate of Enforcement, SLP(Crl) No. 11971/2022

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