The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested another IAS officer in the Rs 657 crore bank scam.
The 2000 batch IAS officer Pankaj Agarwal was arrested on Monday night, as per CBI sources. He is the second IAS officer to be arrested after Ram Kumar Singh.
The scam involved officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, who colluded with government officials, including IAS officers, to siphon off funds from the bank accounts of eight Haryana government departments and two Chandigarh Administration departments.
While the CBI has put the quantum of loss at Rs 657 crore, the Enforcement Directorate, which is also investigating the scam, claims a loss of Rs 645 crore.
Role of Pankaj Agarwal
The role of Pankaj Agarwal pertains to his tenure as Administrative Secretary of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department. A total of Rs 10 crore was siphoned off from Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board’s account in the IDFC First Bank in Sector 32, Chandigarh. The account was maintained in the name of Agriculture Marketing Development Fund.
A total of Rs 9.75 crore was transferred to SRR Planning Gurus Limited and Rs 25 lakh went to Mannat Contractors. Both are shell firms and were floated to siphon off government funds.
Eight IAS officers are under the scanner in the scam. Two of them have been arrested. Others are Mohd Shayin, Mani Ram Sharma, Pardeep Kumar, Vineet Garg, Saket Kumar and DK Behera.
Agarwal is also connected to the siphoning of funds from Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojana Parishad. Agarwal was Administrative Secretary for the school education department too. From here, over Rs 50 crore was siphoned off.
Both the accounts of Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojana Parishad and Haryana Agriculture Marketing Board were opened during Agarwal’s tenure and in violation of the Finance Department guidelines.
