The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday named six IAS officers in the third chargesheet filed in connection with the ₹504-crore IDFC First Bank fraud involving multiple Haryana government departments and organisations.
In the chargesheet submitted before the special CBI court, the federal probe agency has named Pardeep Kumar, then member secretary, HSPCB; Ram Kumar Singh, then commissioner, municipal corporation (MC), Panchkula; and Pankaj Agarwal, then chairman, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB), who were arrested earlier in connection with the case, and Mohammad Shayin, then managing director of Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd (HPGCL), Saket Kumar, then commissioner and secretary, development and panchayats department, and Vineet Garg, then chairman of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB).
The CBI has filed the chargesheet without obtaining prosecution sanction for the IAS officers. The trial court cannot take cognisance of the chargesheet or the police investigation report until the state government grants sanction for prosecution under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) provisions and the department of personnel and training (DoPT) under the Union personnel ministry grants sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The alleged financial embezzlement came to light on February 24 this year with the arrest of Ribhav Rishi and Abhay Kumar, both former employees of IDFC First Bank, along with business partners Swati Singla and Abhishek Singla of Swastik Desh Project. The arrests came a day after an FIR was registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act related to the alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to various departments and organisations of the Haryana government and maintained with IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.
{{/usCountry}}The alleged financial embezzlement came to light on February 24 this year with the arrest of Ribhav Rishi and Abhay Kumar, both former employees of IDFC First Bank, along with business partners Swati Singla and Abhishek Singla of Swastik Desh Project. The arrests came a day after an FIR was registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act related to the alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to various departments and organisations of the Haryana government and maintained with IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.
{{/usCountry}}The eight Haryana government departments and organisations affected by the alleged fraud are the department of panchayats, municipal corporations of Panchkula and Kalka, Haryana school shiksha pariyojna parishad (HSSPP), Haryana labour welfare board (HLWB), Haryana state agricultural marketing board (HSAMB); Haryana state pollution control board (HSPCB), and Haryana power generation corporation limited (HPGCL).
The CBI took over the investigation from the Haryana state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau at the request of the state government on April 8.
The chargesheet also names three officials of IDFC First Bank, one official of AU Small Finance Bank and nine other Haryana government officials. They have been booked for offences including criminal conspiracy, cheating, destruction of evidence, forgery, using forged documents as genuine, falsification of accounts, criminal breach of trust and abetment under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), besides offences of bribery and criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The other accused named in the chargesheet include Deepti Kaushik and Rajesh Goyal from HPGCL, Prince Sharma from the Development and Panchayats Department, Saurav Kumar and Parveen Kumar from HSPCB, Surender Jain from MC Panchkula, Surinder Kaur, Amit Kumar (clerk) and Jugal Kishore from the Haryana Labour Welfare Board (HLWB), Shamim Ahmad Dar, Sudha Goyal and Kuldeep Singh from IDFC First Bank; and Charanjeet Singh Randhawa from AU Small Finance Bank.
Before the latest chargesheet, the CBI had already chargesheeted 18 other accused in the case, including officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, Haryana government officials, private individuals and private companies. With the filing of the latest chargesheet, the total number of accused chargesheeted in the case has risen to 37.
The CBI has conducted 54 searches in the case and seized incriminating material, including gold worth approximately ₹20 crore. According to the agency, as many as 26 accused have been arrested to date.
How funds were siphoned off?
According to the CBI chargesheet, the accused public servants, in connivance with officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, allegedly orchestrated and executed the fraudulent scheme in a planned manner.
The investigation found that funds belonging to eight Haryana government departments and organisations, which were maintained with various empanelled banks, were transferred to specific branches of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank where the accused bank officials were posted. According to the chargesheet, bank accounts were opened at these branches as part of the conspiracy.
The CBI alleged that the accused violated the Haryana finance department’s guidelines relating to financial prudence and fraud prevention. The funds transferred to these accounts were allegedly misappropriated through fraudulent transactions and routed to third parties unconnected to the government departments.
The amounts were allegedly layered through multiple bank accounts and subsequently converted into cash, causing wrongful enrichment of the accused, the CBI has alleged.
The agency has also taken over two other related cases in Chandigarh. One pertains to Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) and the municipal corporation, while the other relates to the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST). Chargesheets have already been filed in both cases. The CBI said investigations in all three cases would continue against other suspects and accused persons.