A Panchkula court has sent retired IAS officer Pardeep Kumar to two-day CBI custody. He was produced before the court soon after his arrest on June 30 in the Rs 657-crore bank scam. Incidentally, he retired the same day.
As per CBI, Kumar’s role pertained to his tenure as Member Secretary of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), during which a fraud of Rs 169 crore was committed from the board’s account at IDFC First Bank. The fraud at HSPCB is part of the Rs 657-crore bank scam, in which funds were siphoned from the accounts of eight Haryana Government departments and two of Chandigarh Administration.
According to CBI, Kumar 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.
To create the fixed deposits, HSPCB funds were first transferred into an account opened at IDFC First Bank. Though, there was 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,” added CBI.
The investigation conducted by CBI revealed that no fixed deposits were created at this bank. Instead, fraudulent debit transactions were carried out from this account, resulting in the misappropriation of government funds.
It was the largest financial loss suffered by any of the affected government departments in Haryana in the overall scam, CBI claimed.
Earlier, the Haryana Government suspended Kumar on April 8.
