SC refuses to grant relief from arrest to suspended Jharkhand IAS officer Pooja Singhal's husband

New Delhi [India], June 23 : The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant, as of now, any relief to Abhishek Jha, the husband of suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, from arrest in a case being probed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) relating to embezzlement of MGNREGA funds.

A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and MM Sundresh declined any relief today and posted the matter for hearing on July 5 before a regular bench hearing matters arising out of the case.

Jha approached the apex court seeking anticipatory bail and challenged the June 18 Jharkhand High Court order which declined his pre-arrest bail in the case.

ED has been investigating the MNREGA scam and money laundering case in which the couple was accused.

Last week also, the top court declined to grant interim protection from arrest to Jha.

2000-batch IAS officer Pooja Singhal was accused along with her husband and others in connection with a money laundering case registered by a federal agency pertaining to the alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds in Khunti district during 2009-2010 and some other suspicious financial transactions.

The ED has accused the suspended IAS officer of money laundering and said its team 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 associated with the couple, and others were also raided by the ED as part of the money laundering probe.

Singhal, who was holding the charge of Jharkhand mining secretary, was suspended by the state government following her arrest by the ED.

Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant linked to Singhal and her husband, was also arrested by the ED and cash totalling Rs 19.76 crore was seized from him.