The Enforcement Directorate seized ₹3 crore during searches at Hazaribagh in a MGNREGA money laundering case against tainted Jharkhand IAS officer Pooja Singhal, taking the total cash confiscated so far to more than ₹20 crore.

ED sources stated that large volumes of cash, stacked in denomination of ₹2,000 and ₹500, were taken into custody by the sleuths from the premises of Mohammed E Ansari, who controls a group of private companies. The agency sources charged that the recovered cash has linkages with Singhal who was granted bail last month by the Supreme Court for two months to look after her ailing daughter. A 2000-batch IAS officer, Singhal was arrested by the ED on May 11 in the PMLA case registered to probe diversion of funds meant for MGNREGA.

Last month, a chartered accountant gave a statement to the ED alleging that majority of the ₹17.49 crore recovered by the agency in the case belonged to Singhal. Suman Kumar also told the ED that he handed over ₹3 crore in cash to a renowned builder for purchasing the land for Pulse Hospital owned by Pooja Singhal and her family.

In another case, the ED conducted searches at 14 premises of M/s. Sagar Diamond Limited, M/s. RHC Global Exports Limited, and their director Vaibhav Dipak Shah and associates in Surat SEZ, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The agency seized cash worth ₹25 lakh, gold, diamond and other valuables amounting to ₹10 crore, besides laying their hands on digital devices, documents related to bogus imports and exports in power bank app fraud case.

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