The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Abhishek Jha, husband of suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who was booked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in the embezzlement of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
While granting pre-arrest bail to the businessman, the Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul further stayed any criminal proceedings against the accused.
Earlier on June 23, the top court of the country had refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Jha.
The Vacation Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice M.M. Sundresh had posted the matter for preliminary hearing on July 5 before a regular bench hearing the matter related to Singhal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Jha had moved the Apex Court challenging the June 18 order of the Jharkhand High Court, which denied him anticipatory bail in the case.
Pooja Singhal, a 2000-batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, was arrayed as an accused along with her husband and others by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in an alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and some other suspicious financial transactions during 2009-2010 in Khunti district.
ED had accused the suspended IAS officer of money laundering and claimed that it had seized more than Rs 36 crore cash linked to alleged illegal mining as part of two separate money laundering investigations.