Latehar:&nbsp;Maoists set ablaze 10 vehicles that were being used for the construction of roads and bridges in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police said on Sunday.The Maoists torched eight vehicles, including excavators and tankers of a construction company, in Baskarcha in Mahuadanr police station area on Saturday night, they said.These vehicles were engaged in the construction of roads in the area, they added.Two more vehicles, including a mixer machine, were set ablaze in Potmadih a while later, police said.These vehicles were being used for the construction of a bridge, they said."Maoists took the responsibility for the incident, issuing a leaflet," Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Rajesh Kujur said.The vehicles were burnt over extortion, he said."Police are conducting raids to nab the ultras," Kujur said.—PTI

 Maoists set ablaze 10 vehicles that were being used for the construction of roads and bridges in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police said on Sunday.

Maoists set ablaze 10 vehicles in Jharkhand's Latehar

Jharkhand

Ranchi: Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal, earlier arrested and remanded to the custody of the ED in a suspected money laundering case, was suspended by the Jharkhand government on Thursday, an official said.The Enforcement Directorate had produced her before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma after two consecutive days of questioning by the central probe agency on Tuesday and Wednesday.She was sent to Birsa Munda Central Jail, Hotwar, on Wednesday night after the ED took her on remand for five days."The government has suspended Pooja Singhal with immediate effect under the provisions of All India Services (Discipline and Appeal Rules, 1969),”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the official said.Reacting to the arrest, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had said Wednesday, the state government "will initiate whatever legal action it has to take in this subject".He said the alleged irregularities "occurred during the Bharatiya Janata Pary’s tenure and that should be probed."It was during the BJP tenure that a clean chit was given to her in 2017. All those who gave her the clean chit should be probed. "You (BJP) make her do the wrong and you (also) give her a clean chit," the CM said.The money laundering investigation against Singhal and others pertains to a case in which former Jharkhand government junior engineer Ram Binod Prasad Sinha was arrested by the agency on June 17, 2020, from West Bengal.He was booked under the PMLA in 2012 on the basis of state vigilance bureau FIRs against him.The money laundering case against Singhal is linked to alleged embezzlement of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds in the state.The ED had alleged that irregularities were found in the accounts of the scheme while she served as the deputy commissioner and district magistrate of Chatra, Khunti and Palamu between 2007 and 2013.—PTI

Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal, earlier arrested and remanded to the custody of the ED in a suspected money laundering case, was suspended by the Jharkhand government on Thursday, an official said.

Jharkhand suspends mining secretary Pooja Singhal arrested for MGNREGS scam

New Delhi: IAS officer and Jharkhand Mines Secretary Pooja Singhal was on Wednesday arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after her second day of questioning in connection with the ongoing probe of Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to alleged embezzelment of MNREGS funds.Singhal on Wednesday she again joined the probe after being grilled for 9 hours on Tuesday. The ED, after collecting enough evidence against her, placed her under arrest.The ED sources said that they would scan her transactions of the last three years, to check the suspicious money trail, if any.The agency is also scanning details of all her properties.A source said that total of four cars of her husband Abhishek Jha's CA Suman Kumar, who was arrested on Saturday, have been seized, as sources said that someone else had made the payments for luxury cars, which is suspicious.Cash amounting to around Rs 19 crore which was recovered in the raids by the ED. It is said that it was Singhal's money. The ED will try to know from where this cash came from.Apart from the CA, her husband was placed under arrest on Saturday.Suman Kumar was then sent to five days ED custody which is ending on Wednesday.He had come on the radar during the course of the investigation. He also handles accounts of Singhal's husband.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had on Friday morning conducted raids at more than 18 places, including Ranchi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Kolkata, Muzaffarpur,Saharsa, and in several parts of NCR including Faridabad and Gurugram as well as Noida.They had to take help of bank officials and a currency counting machine to estimate the amount of cash seized—IANS

 IAS officer and Jharkhand Mines Secretary Pooja Singhal was on Wednesday arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after her second day of questioning in connection with the ongoing probe of Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to alleged embezzelment of MNREGS funds.

ED arrests IAS Pooja Singhal in an alleged money laundering case

Ranchi: Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal and her husband received 'huge' cash deposits -- to the tune of Rs 1.43 crore -- over and above her salary in their accounts, during the period she faced charges of irregularities while being posted as the DM of various districts in the state, the Enforcement Directorate has said.The federal agency also told a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Ranchi that the IAS officer allegedly transferred Rs 16.57 lakh from her 'personal account' to those controlled or owned by her CA Suman Kumar.Kumar was arrested on Saturday for alleged money laundering in a case linked to alleged fraud of&nbsp;Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act money.The 39-year-old was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate from Ranchi after the agency conducted multi-city raids against him, Singhal, her businessman husband Abhishek Jha and others, on May 6.The special court sent him to ED custody till May 11.Jha is being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in Ranchi.The ED said it has seized over Rs 17.79 crore in cash from the residential and office premises of the chartered accountant.Officials had deployed machines to count the cash haul and photos and videos of this exercise was widely shared over social media.The overall cash seizure after these raids, as per the agency, stands at Rs 19.31 crore with seizure also being made from another location in Ranchi.Seeking Kumar's custody, the agency in its remand note said, the CA was "withholding" information regarding the source of the cash seized from his house and was not disclosing the "actual owner" of the cash.The agency alleged in the court document that Singhal, an IAS officer of the 2000 batch, used funds that were deposited in 'cash' in her banks accounts while she served as DC of three districts during 2007-2013, to purchase life insurance policies.The ED investigation pertains to a money laundering case in which former junior engineer in the Jharkhand government, Ram Binod Prasad Sinha, was arrested by the agency on June 17, 2020 from West Bengal after he was booked by the agency under the PMLA in 2012 after studying the FIRs of the state vigilance bureau against him.Sinha was booked by the vigilance bureau under criminal sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to cheating and corruption for allegedly defrauding public money and investing it in his own name as well as in the name of his family members while working as junior engineer from April 1, 2008 to March 21, 2011.The said money was earmarked for the execution of government projects under MNREGA in Khunti district, the agency had earlier said.Sinha told the ED that "he paid 5 per cent commission (out of the defrauded funds) to the district administration."During the period, the ED said in the lastest note, various charges of "irregularities" were made against Singhal while she served as the deputy commissioner/district magistrate of Chatra, Khunti and Palamu between 2007-2013."Hence, the account statements of Smt Pooja Singhal was called from various banks and financial institutions. The accounts of Smt Pooja Singhal and Shri Abhishek Jha, husband of Smt Pooja Singhal is having huge cash deposits to the tune of Rs 1.43 crore during the same crime period," the ED alleged.She served as the DC of Khunti district between February 16, 2009 and July 19, 2010, the alleged crime period for which Sinha is being probed.It added that the cash deposited in different financial years were "over and above" the salary of Singhal.The IAS officer, the ED said, purchased 13 policies and paid premium of Rs 80.81 lakh between 2005-06 and 2012-13 fiscal and later "closed them (policies) pre-maturely and received closure amount of Rs 84.64 lakh."The agency said out of this amount, Singhal "transferred" Rs 3.96 lakh from her account to that of Kumar in 2015.It said another amount of over Rs 6.39 lakh from the said closure funds was transferred in 2016 to the account of Santosh Crusher Metal Works, a partnership firm incorporated by Kumar and where the CA's father is a partner.The agency said a third amount of Rs 6.22 lakh was transferred by her in 2017 to a company called Radhey Shyam Explosives Pvt. Ltd."All three accounts were related to Suman Kumar. The total amount transferred from her (Singhal's) personal account to these accounts is Rs 16.57 lakh," the ED told the court.The agency is soon expected to summon the bureaucrat to further record her statements in the case.The agency is also looking at the business transactions and other finances of a multi-speciality hospital based in Ranchi which is allegedly managed by Singhal's husband.ED officials had earlier said they seized a number of "incriminating documents that indicate political and higher bureaucracy links with alleged illegal mining activities in the state" during the raids—PTI

Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal and her husband received 'huge' cash deposits -- to the tune of Rs 1.43 crore -- over and above her salary in their accounts, during the period she faced charges of irregularities while being posted as the DM of various districts in the state, the Enforcement Directorate has said.

ED uncovers Rs 1.43 cr with Jharkhand IAS officer, hubby in MGNREGA scam

Ranchi: IndiGo barred a specially-abled child from boarding a flight at the Ranchi airport as he was in "a state of panic", following which the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has started a probe and asked the airline to submit a report, officials said on Sunday.As the boy was prohibited from boarding the airline's Ranchi-Hyderabad flight on Saturday, his parents also decided to not take the flight, they noted.DGCA chief Arun Kumar told PTI that the regulator has sought a report from IndiGo on this matter.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is probing this incident and it will take appropriate action, he said.When asked about the incident, IndiGo said, "In view of the safety of passengers, a specially-abled child could not board the flight with his family on May 7, as he was in a state of panic."The ground staff waited for him to calm down till the last minute but to no avail, it said.The airline made the family comfortable by providing them a hotel stay and they flew the next morning to their destination, it said."We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers. IndiGo prides itself on being an inclusive organisation, be it for employees or its customers; and over 75,000 specially-abled passengers fly with IndiGo every month," it said—PTI

IndiGo barred a specially-abled child from boarding a flight at the Ranchi airport as he was in "a state of panic", following which the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has started a probe and asked the airline to submit a report, officials said on Sunday.