THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, March 15: The Supreme Court today granted bail to Junior Engineer Ram Binod Sinha facing money laundering charges in the MNREGA scam.
Sinha has been in jail for around three years and nine months in the money laundering case.
Pandey Neeraj Rai and Rachitta Rai argued on behalf of Sinha.
SC seeks more info on Singhal
A three-judge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipanker Dutta and Augustine George Masih, however, deferred suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal’s bail petition to April 29 and sought more information on her custody to take a decision. She is also a prime accused in a money laundering case.
Senior Lawyer Siddharth Luthra appeared on her behalf.
Additional Solicitor General of India SV Raju, opposing her bail petition, argued that Singhal had spent most of her time during custody in RIMS. “She is enjoying all the amenities there,” he said.
The top court, during the hearing on October 31 2023, had earlier asked Singhal whether the allegation of breach of her privacy during treatment at a hospital could be a ground to grant her bail. Luthra had told the court her privacy was breached when photographs of her room were leaked while she was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ranchi.
Singhal in custody since May 11, 2022
Singhal has been in custody since May 11, 2022 after raids were conducted at properties linked to her in connection with the money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate. The case relates to alleged corruption in the implementation of MGNREGA, the Centre’s flagship scheme for rural employment.
The ED has accused Singhal, a former state mines department secretary, 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 the 2000-batch IAS officer, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant associated with the couple, and others were also raided by the ED as part of the probe.
Singhal was suspended following her arrest.
