The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed that there exists no record in the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) as to how an account was opened in the IDFC First Bank’s branch in Sector 32, Chandigarh, as no approval was obtained for it and it was not brought to the knowledge of any officer senior to Senior Accounts Officer Parveen Kumar.
It is the same bank account from which Rs 169 crore was misappropriated, and it is the largest single fraud across all eight affected departments of the Haryana Government.
It was Parveen Kumar who had signed the account-opening form as the Senior Accounts Officer/authorised signatory. The account was opened on February 27, 2025, when the Chairman of the HSPCB was IAS officer Vineet Garg and Member Secretary was Pardeep Kumar, now retired from IAS. The Member Secretary was arrested on June 30, the day of his superannuation.
These facts came to light during a hearing in a Panchkula court on Friday.
According to the CBI, an e-file containing the account opening kit was marked to Senior Accounts Officer Parveen Kumar, who thereafter forwarded it to a co-accused, Saurav Sharma, who was working as a Data Entry Operator at HSPCB. The CBI said it established Parveen Kumar’s knowledge of the account, and he has, to date, offered no explanation for its very existence.
A substantial part of the misappropriation was effected through fraudulent debits, amounting to Rs 110 crore during Parveen Kumar’s tenure, using cheques bearing his signature as Senior Accounts Officer.
“The first cheque book issued in respect of the account was received in the department but was never acknowledged and never recovered; the second cheque book was also issued, containing the cheques used for the debits and the funds were siphoned into shell entities including CAPCO Fintech, Swastik Desh Projects, AS Bullion Traders, Disha Traders, Bharat Solar, Mannat Contractors and SRR Planning Gurus,” submitted the CBI.
It has also come to light that the investment files were routed through him in his capacity as Senior Accounts Officer. He was well aware of the Finance Department circular dated July 12, 2024, prescribing the investment ceilings, which were Rs 50 crore for the newly empanelled banks like the IDFC First Bank and Rs 25 crore for the Small Finance Banks, and it was his responsibility to enforce it.
In furtherance of the criminal conspiracy, he deliberately did not bring the limits to the knowledge of the senior officers and did not mention them in his notes, as a result of which the quantum of investment exceeded the prescribed limit in the account at IDFC First Bank, Sector-32, Chandigarh, the CBI alleged.
Parveen Kumar’s role was not confined to that of a Senior Accounts Officer and there are reasonable grounds to believe that he had actively participated in the larger conspiracy and facilitated the commission of the offences under investigation, said the CBI.
The agency added that the properties acquired and the gold purchased out of the siphoned funds, were required to be identified and recovered, for which the custody of Senior Accounts Officer was required.
The CBI Special Court, Panchkula, sent Parveen Kumar to CBI custody for three days, till July 6.
