Pooja Singhal

Some Lesser Known Facts About Pooja Singhal

• Pooja Singhal is an Indian civil servant who became the youngest IAS officer at the age of twenty-one. She is a 2000 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Jharkhand. She also serves as the managing director of Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation Limited.

• She was a topper in school and college. After she became the youngest IAS officer, her name was written in the Limca Book of Records.

• She took the civil service training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie and was referred to the future cabinet secretary by her classmates at the academy.

• In 2021, she served as the secretary of the tourism, art, culture, sports, and youth affairs department of Jharkhand. In the same year, she was transferred as the secretary of the industries, mines, and geology departments.

• While she was serving as the Deputy Commissioner in the Khunti district, she gave Rs.6 crore to two NGOs under the MNREGA scheme. This act by Pooja raised many questions in the assembly, but she was not found guilty.

• She was also accused of ignoring the rules in the allotment of the Kathautia coal block to the Usha Martin Group while she was the Deputy Commissioner of Palamu.

• Reportedly, when she was the Deputy Commissioner of Chatra, Naxalites attacked her with a poisonous needle. She was taken to the hospital, but later, it was alleged that she tried to kill herself by having the poison.

• After she became the IAS officer, she revealed various godowns and the illegal sale of books given to children under the education project. A handicap survey was also conducted for the first time to collect data on physically handicapped people under Pooja’s administration.

• In 2020, when eight girls from Jharkhand were selected for the India U17 Women’s team, and the Jharkhand government said that they would support the girls in all possible ways, Pooja was the Secretary of Sports at that time.

• After the ED seized Rs. 19.31 crore from Pooja’s residence, an old picture of Amit Shah and Pooja was shared by director Avinash Das. Many Twitter users tried to link the involvement of Amit Shah in the illegal mining case against Pooja.

  

• In December 2024, she was granted bail by a special Ranchi PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court. Earlier, the Supreme Court had rejected the bail plea.