On the day of his superannuation, the CBI on Tuesday arrested suspended IAS officer Pardeep Kumar, the then Member Secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), in connection with the Rs 657-crore bank scam.
Kumar is the third IAS officer to be arrested in the case after Ram Kumar Singh and Pankaj Agarwal. The CBI is also examining the role of five other IAS officers.
According to the CBI, the investigation has established that Kumar’s actions as Member Secretary had a direct nexus with the fraud.
“He himself handled the entire investment-related work at his level. Funds for fixed deposits were sent to IDFC First Bank far in excess of the prescribed limits," the agency said.
The HSPCB maintained its account with the IDFC First Bank branch in Sector 32, Chandigarh.
The agency alleged that funds earmarked for creating fixed deposits were first transferred to an account opened in the name of the HSPCB at the bank. However, investigators found no official record with the department regarding the opening of this account.
“Surprisingly, there is no record which the department could produce with regard to opening of this account. The conspiracy was so deep that the account got opened without any approvals and funds were transferred into the account in the name of creating fixed deposits," the CBI said.
The probe has revealed that no fixed deposits were actually created. Instead, fraudulent debit transactions were allegedly carried out from the account, resulting in the misappropriation of government funds and causing a net loss of around Rs 169 crore to the Haryana Government.
“This represents the single largest financial loss suffered by any of the affected government departments of Haryana in the overall scam," the CBI claimed.
The agency said Kumar had been evading the investigation and was not cooperating with investigators.
“He was on the run. He was arrested after the CBI successfully traced his whereabouts," the agency said.
Kumar, 60, was suspended on April 8 after his name surfaced during the investigation. He retired from service on Tuesday.
In his anticipatory bail application before a Panchkula court, Kumar blamed his then superior, former HSPCB chairman Vineet Garg, IAS, alleging that investments of surplus funds in IDFC First Bank were made on the chairman’s “oral instructions". He contended that the investments exceeded the Rs 50-crore ceiling prescribed under the Haryana Finance Department’s policy dated July 12, 2024, for a first-time empanelled bank. He further alleged that the chairman favoured IDFC First Bank despite better interest rates being available from other banks.
So far, the CBI has filed chargesheets against 17 accused in the bank scam, including six officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, three Haryana Government public servants, two companies and six private individuals.
