The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday chargesheeted 13 accused in the Rs 83-crore IDFC First Bank scam pertaining to the Chandigarh Renewable Energy Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) fund. The chargesheet, filed at a Chandigarh court, containing over 240 pages and named 11 persons and two companies as the accused in the case.
This is the second chargesheet filed by the CBI in the IDFC First Bank scam pertaining to funds of government departments under the Chandigarh Administration. Earlier, the CBI filed a chargesheet in connection with the scam of Rs 153 crore connected to Chandigarh Smart City Limited. The amount was deposited in the IDFC First Bank branch of Sector 32, Chandigarh.
Initially, the Chandigarh police had registered FIR No 03 on March 12, 2026, relating to the CREST fund fraud of Rs 83.04 crore. Later, the probe was handed over to CBI. The frauds came to light after officers of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) and CREST reconciled their funds deposited with the bank in the wake of a scam surfacing in the Haryana Government-related fund.
According to the complaint, a reconciliation of CREST’s bank statements revealed approximately 300 unauthorised transactions, with a principal shortfall of Rs 75.16 crore and an interest loss of Rs 7.88 crore.
The investigation has revealed that the bank statements sent periodically to CREST from the official email accounts of bank officials had been systematically forged to conceal the fraud. The stolen funds were invested into jewellery, bullion, cash and real estate.
