The Enforcement Directorate (ED) logo.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court on Friday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file a reply to a bail application submitted by arrested former IAS officer Puja Singhal.
Singhal was apprehended in May 2022 after properties linked to her were raided by the central agency in connection with a money laundering case.
Singhal moved the high court seeking bail after her bail petition was rejected by the special PMLA court in Ranchi on September 26.
The case will again be heard on November 22.
Singhal has been accused of acquiring tainted money by misusing her offices as mines secretary and deputy commissioners of various districts.
On April 29, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea of the suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer seeking bail in the money laundering case.
A bench of justices Sanjeev Khanna and Dipankar Datta had refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court order denying her bail and said it was an "extraordinary case".
The top court had noted that out of 17 prosecution witnesses, 12 have been examined by the ED and hoped that the trial in the case be concluded expeditiously.
"You wait for some time for bail. This is not a normal matter but an extraordinary case. There is something seriously wrong in this case. We are not inclined to entertain the instant petition. We hope the trial will proceed expeditiously," it had observed.
The bench, however, gave liberty to Singhal to revive her bail plea, if the trial is prolonged or if there is any other change in circumstance.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, opposed the bail plea and said out of the total custody period, she has spent most of the time in hospital.
Raju informed the court that out of 687 days in custody in the case, Singhal has been in hospital for 481 days.
The bench told senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal, appearing for Singhal, "Charges against your client are fairly severe. The amount of cash recovered is also substantial."
It added, "This is not a normal but an extraordinary case. Had it been a normal case, we would have granted you bail."
Agarwal pointed out that there are no sufficient medical facilities in Birsa Munda Central jail in Ranchi, where Singhal has been in judicial custody.
The bench had said, "Don't worry. You are young enough. First it was your daughter and then something else."
On February 10, 2023, the top court had granted Singhal interim bail for two months to enable her to take care of her ailing daughter.
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, properties of 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.