Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 6
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is believed to have raided three Haryana cadre IAS officers in Chandigarh and Panchkula in the Rs 645 crore IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank scam on Saturday. The Tribune could confirm the raids at the residences of at least three IAS officers, Mohd Shayin, Pankaj Agarwal and Pardeep Kumar. They couldn’t be reached for comment.
It is learnt that the CBI seized incriminating documents from the residences. It is not yet known whether the cash has been recovered.
The Haryana government had earlier granted permission to investigate eight IAS officers under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. These were Mohd Shayin, Pankaj Agarwal, Vineet Garg, RK Singh, Pardeep Kumar, and Saket Kumar. IAS DK Behra was the eighth officer.
The CBI interrogated them last month and also seized their phones. Two of the IAS officers, RK Singh and Pardeep Kumar, were suspended, while the rest were transferred too. It is alleged that government department accounts in the IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank were opened and that embezzlement from them took place during the tenure of the IAS officers in the concerned departments.
About the case
The CBI registered the FIR in the case on April 8. Earlier, the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) investigated the case, following an FIR on February 23.
In addition to the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also investigating the case.
According to the investigating agencies, government department funds were required to be maintained in FDRs; however, these FDRs were never created. Instead, forged FDRs were misrepresented to the concerned departments, while the corresponding funds were simultaneously siphoned off through transfers to various entities and individuals, including shell entities, through a complex web of transactions.
Earlier, on May 21, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against 13 people and two shell entities.
The challan was against six bank officials-Ribhav Rishi, Abhay Kumar, Seema Dhiman, Priyanka Bhatoa, Anuj Kaushal, and Arun Sharma. Also, Abhishek Singla, and Swati Singla, who were Directors in Swastik Desh Projects, and Ankur Sharma, who was a Director in M/s SRR Planning Gurus, were mentioned as accused.
