The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested IAS officer Ram Kumar Singh, the then Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation (MC), Panchkula, in connection with the alleged embezzlement of government funds from the MC Panchkula account maintained with IDFC First Bank’s Sector 32 branch in Chandigarh.
The investigation revealed that the account was opened in violation of the prevailing guidelines issued by the Finance Department, Government of Haryana. Details recorded in the account-opening form were entered in a manner designed to conceal the fraudulent transactions intended to be carried out subsequently.
Pursuant to an understanding with the accused officials of IDFC First Bank, RK Singh handed over multiple signed cheques to the bank officials through middlemen under the garb of opening Fixed Deposits. The funds were debited using these cheques and no Fixed Deposits were ever created. The debited amounts were diverted to shell entities controlled and operated by the accused bank officials.
The misappropriation was carried out with the knowledge and active participation of the then Commissioner and the Senior Accountant of MC Panchkula. A senior accountant has already been arrested by the CBI in this case. The investigation conducted so far revealed active role of RK Singh. His residences at Chandigarh and Karnal have also been searched and several incriminating documents have been recovered.
It may be recalled that the CBI had taken over the investigation from the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Haryana, on the request of the state government. The fraud at MC Panchkula involved misappropriation of approximately Rs 79.46 crore, forming part of a larger scam at the Sector 32 IDFC First Bank branch, in which funds to the tune of Rs 504 crores of 8 Haryana Government departments were siphoned off through forged/non-existent Fixed Deposits/Debit notes and routed to shell entities.
So far, 17 accused have been chargesheeted by the CBI in this Haryana case which includes six Bank officials of IDFC First Bank/AU Small Finance Bank, three public servants of Haryana government, two companies and six private persons.
It may further be recalled that the CBI has also taken over two other cases from the Chandigarh Union Territory – one pertaining to Chandigarh Smart City (CSCL)/ Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and another pertaining to CREST Chandigarh. One chargesheet each in these cases have also been filed by the CBI. The agency has chargesheeted five bankers, one CSCL official and one private person in CSCL case; and five bankers, two CREST officials, four private persons and two companies in CREST case. Further one senior IFoS officer has already been arrested in CREST Case.
