Chandigarh: Kotak bank official arrested in ₹150-crore scam case

Chandigarh: Kotak bank official arrested in ₹150-crore scam case

Chandigarh, Haryana's State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on Wednesday arrested a private bank official in connection with a ₹150-crore discrepancy in accounts of Panchkula Municipal Corporation at a local Kotak Mahindra Bank branch, an official said.

Chandigarh: Kotak bank official arrested in ₹150-crore scam case

Pushpender Singh, the deputy vice-president of the bank, who had surrendered to the bureau earlier in the day, was arrested, an official said.

Pushpender earlier worked as the Panchkula branch manager, and later rose to the position of senior manager, and then to deputy vice president.

The official said that he will be produced before a court in Panchkula on Thursday and his remand will be sought for further questioning in the case.

Earlier, five people were arrested in connection with the discrepancies in the civic body's fixed deposit receipts.

According to the vigilance bureau, Vikas Kaushik, an ex-senior accounts officer of Panchkula Municipal Corporation, in collusion with Pushpender Singh, fraudulently opened an account each for the civic body in 2020 and 2022.

Using alleged fraudulent debit notes, the fixed deposits held in the genuine municipality accounts would be prematurely liquidated, and Pushpender would allegedly transfer the money to the fraudulent accounts, which were then further transferred to the accounts of other accused.

The municipality had earlier claimed a multi-crore mismatch in its official records and the balance or records reflected in Kotak Mahindra Bank's Panchkula branch.

According to the Panchkula municipal commissioner, the discrepancies detected in the fixed deposit receipts were to the tune of ₹150 crore.

The vigilance bureau earlier arrested Dileep Kumar Raghav, the relationship manager in the bank at the time of the fraud, and Rajat Dahra.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Raghav sent false reports to the Panchkula Municipal Corporation regarding the fixed deposits.

The State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau earlier filed an FIR on cheating, conspiracy and other charges against unnamed bank officials and others.

The case was registered at the Anti-Corruption Bureau Police Station in Panchkula.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.