She had purchased 13 Life Insurance policies and paid premiums of Rs 80.81 lakh between 2006-13.
Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate as she "deliberately withheld information on MGNREGA scam", and gave evasive statements on cash seized from her accountant's premises, sources said.
She had on Tuesday appeared before the probe agency in Ranchi for questioning in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) funds in the Khunti district of the state and other charges.
Pooja Singhal was the Deputy Collector of Chatra, Khunti and Palamu districts of Jharkhand between 2007-13.
The federal agency has recorded the statement of the 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED investigation pertains to a money laundering case in which a 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.
Mr Sinha is accused of allegedly misappropriating rural employment guarantee scheme funds and has confessed to paying a 5 per cent commission to the district administration.
Bank statements of Pooja Singhal and her husband Abhishek Jha reveal huge cash deposits of Rs 1.43 crore during the said period, sources in the probe agency said.
She had purchased 13 Life Insurance policies and paid premiums of Rs 80.81 lakh between 2006-13 and closed it prematurely and received Rs 84.64 lakh, they said.
The agency had arrested chartered accountant Suman Kumar in this case on May 7 after seizing over Rs 17 crore in cash from his premises. He is in ED custody since his arrest. Mr Kumar has told officials that most of the seized money belongs to Pooja Singhal.
Pooja Singhal allegedly transferred around Rs 16.57 lakhs from her account to her CA Suman Kumar's accounts during the said period, sources said.
Suman Kumar has also confessed that he gave Rs 3 crore to a renowned builder for the purchase of the land for Pulse Hospital owned by the IAS officer and her family. The current worth of the hospital is Rs 70 crore, sources said.
"Huge amounts of the proceeds of crime from misappropriated MNREGA funds were integrated into the construction and management of the Pulse Hospital owned by Pooja Singhal and her family," they said.
Her husband Abhishek Jha is being questioned today on the management and transactions in Pulse Hospital.