Three months after the Rs 150-crore Kotak Mahindra Bank scam came to light, investigation has revealed a web of forged letters and signatures, two illegal accounts and 87 fake term deposit advice that the alleged mastermind, bank deputy vice president Pushpender Singh (also branch manager of the Sector 11 branch in Panchkula, Haryana) created in collusion with officials of the Panchkula MC to siphon off funds over six years.
The State Vigilance Bureau and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) filed the first chargesheet in the scam on Monday, revealing a two-tier embezzlement, in which the accused first siphoned off Rs 338.27 crore from the Panchkula MC’s account into two accounts illegally opened on behalf of the MC. In the second step, the money was transferred from these accounts into the accused’s accounts.
However, Rs 234.12 crore was returned into the MC’s legal accounts. According to the investigating agency, the accused still had Rs 104.15 crore with them.
According to the chargesheet, Singh had shared his stolen wealth with several individuals and companies, so that they could transfer the money into the accounts of the real beneficiary in the second tier.
In the first layer, Rajat Dahra got Rs 77.73 crore, Swati Tomar got Rs 9.40 crore, Sonia got Rs 50 lakh, Vinod got Rs 1.41 crore, SK Agro Tech got Rs 58.01 lakh, SK Agro Farm got Rs 53.09 lakh, and Kapil Rs 4.25 crore. They were allegedly working for Singh.
From their accounts, the money flowed to Sanat Enterprises and Allied entities (Rs 66.74 crore), Swati Tomar (Rs 12.63 crore), Pushpender Singh (Rs 8.33 crore), Samar Mohan Ranga (Rs 5.19 crore, and Aryan Singh (Rs 1.41 crore).
The calculation of actual loss by the investigating agency, however, doesn’t take into account the interest accrued from these monies or bank charges from all transactions.
It is alleged that Singh used to take interest from Sunny Garg, who owns Sanat Enterprises and is absconding.
First mode of crime
According to the chargesheet, here is how the fraud unfolded.
First, an illegal account with Kotak Mahindra was opened using forged documents. Then, from IDBI Bank’s account, Rs 5 crore was transferred on May 21, 2020, to the legal account of MC Panchkula at Kotak Mahindra Bank, and permission was obtained to convert it into an FD, citing a higher interest rate at the bank.
Senior Accounts Officer Vikas Kaushik, Pushpender Singh, and relationship manager Dilip Raghav—forwarded a forged FD advice of Rs 5 crore, dated May 28, 2020, to the MC. The accused withdrew the Rs 5 crore from the valid account the same day and used it to fund an unauthorised account. The next day, they prepared two forged letters, bearing the forged signatures of the then MC Commissioner, IAS officer Sumedha Kataria, now retired, and the then Senior Accounts Officer, Sushil Kumar.
The letters were submitted to Kotak bank, through which Rs 1.40 crore and Rs 1.60 crore were transferred to Rajat Dahra’s account on May 29, 2020. The remaining Rs 2 crore was withdrawn through two cheques bearing the forged signatures of Kataria and Sushil Kumar on June 6, 2020.
Second mode of embezzlement
Funds were also transferred to the two illegal accounts after the premature liquidation of Fixed Deposits (FDs) held in the legitimate accounts of the MC.
The government money was subsequently routed from the illicit accounts to co-accused Dahra, Tomar, Kapil, Vinod, Sonia, SK Agrotech, and SK Agrofirm via fake vouchers/cheques/RTGS/NEFT, said the chargesheet. All of these bore the forged signatures of the then MC Commissioner; Senior Accounts Officers Sushil Kumar and Dharampal; the then Deputy MC Commissioner, Sayam Garg; and the then Deputy MC Commissioner Deepak Sura.
Sura left the charge at MC Panchkula on April 19, 2023, following his transfer to Ambala. However, his forged signatures continued to be used for withdrawals until April 23, 2025. Singh facilitated the transfers by signing as “OK to process” or by using the “Customer Telephonic Confirmation Stamp”.
The Term Deposit Request Letters from the MC for the transfer of funds following the premature liquidation of FDs were found to be fake. Relationship Manager Dilip Raghav used to bring those to the bank. Through this modus operandi, a fraud of Rs 122.27 crore was committed.
Third mode of fraud
Besides premature liquidation of FDs in legal accounts, the accused transferred funds from the valid MC account numbers to an invalid account through forged letters. A total of Rs 211 crore was transferred from March 29, 2023, to March 19, 2024.
Accused Vikas Kaushik signed all the letters himself and forged the signature of the then Deputy MC Commissioner on the seal of the MC Joint Commissioner.
Inquiries were also made with the Panchkula MC. Upon verifying their dispatch and RTGS registers, they said the letters did not match their records.
How email ID, phone numbers were changed
The MC’s authorised account was opened on October 27, 2018, with email ID mcpanchkula@gmail.com, in the name of the Executive Officer, Municipal Council.
The first illegal account was opened on May 28, 2020, using the email ID that the accused created themselves, mcpanchkola@gmail.com. The letter ‘u’ in Panchkula was replaced with ‘o’. This was also opened in the name of the Executive Officer of the Municipal Council, and under the same customer relationship number. So, the email ID was updated. However, this account was closed on April 6, 2022.
The second illegal account was opened on June 8, 2022, again in the name of the Executive Officer, and, here too, the email ID on the account-opening form was listed as mcpanchkola@gmail.com. Then came the fourth account, a legal one, which was opened on August 26, 2022. Here too, the email ID was mentioned as mcpanchkola@gmail.com.
Subsequently, an updated mobile number was listed for the accounts. It was registered in the name of a Rajpura resident, and the accused Kapil and Dahra made it available to Singh and Vikas Kaushik.
The accused, on November 11, 2023, created their second email ID mcpanchkula.sao@gmail.com, and, by creating a fake letter, updated the email ID with Kotak Mahindra Bank. The email modification form bore Kaushik’s signature, while Sura’s was forged.
“Consequently, the Municipal Corporation, Panchkula, did not receive accurate information regarding account transactions, nor did the accused set up any net banking or alert systems for these accounts,” said the chargesheet.
The accused updated a landline telephone number on the accounts, which was a common number in the MC and was not associated with any official. It was deliberately done so that intimation to the MC could be shown to have been given on the landline number, said the SV&ACB.
The chargesheet has so far been submitted against nine accused, while investigation against Sunny Garg, Aryan Singh, Samar Mohan Ranga, Satish Kumar, and other officials of Kotak bank and the MC is still going on.
