CBI arrests senior IAS officer in ongoing alleged IDFC First Bank fund misappropriation case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Pankaj Aggarwal, IAS on Monday who was the then Principal Secretary in Department of School Education and Agriculture, in connection with the misappropriation of government funds from the account of Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP) and Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB) maintained with the Sector 32, Chandigarh branch of IDFC First Bank.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Pankaj Aggarwal, IAS on Monday who was the then Principal Secretary in Department of School Education and Agriculture, in connection with the alleged misappropriation of government funds from the account of Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP) and Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB) maintained with the Sector 32, Chandigarh branch of IDFC First Bank. He will be produced before the court today. The case was taken over by the CBI at the request of the Government of Haryana.

The Investigation revealed that accounts of these departments were opened in violation of the extant guidelines of the Finance Department of the Government of Haryana, and later funds were transferred thereto in excess of limits. These accounts were opened during the tenure of Pankaj Aggarwal, the then Principal Secretary.

The investigation revealed that through fraudulent transactions in the accounts of these departments, funds were misappropriated, causing a net loss of Rs. 60.54 Crores to the government. During the investigation, incriminating evidence against Pankaj Aggarwal has been collected. It may be recalled that the CBI had taken over the investigation from the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Haryana, at the request of the State Government. The fraud at these two departments involved misappropriation of approximately Rs. 60.54 Crores, forming part of a larger scam at the Sector 32 IDFC First Bank branch, in which funds to the tune of Rs. 504 crores of 8 Haryana Government departments were siphoned off and routed to shell entities.

So far, 17 accused have been charge sheeted by the CBI in this Haryana case, which includes 6 Bank officials of IDFC First Bank/AU Small Finance Bank,3 public servants of the Haryana government, 2 companies and 6 Private persons. Senior IAS officer RK Singh, who was arrested in this case in relation to misappropriation in Municipal corporation Panchkula, has been remanded to judicial custody after the expiry of his police remand.

It may further be recalled that CBI has also taken over 2 other cases from the Chandigarh Union Territory - one about Chandigarh Smart City (CSCL)/ Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and another of CREST Chandigarh. One chargesheet each in these cases has also been filed by the CBI. CBI has chrargesheeted five bankers, one CSCL official and one private person in the CSCL case; and five bankers, two CREST officials, four private persons and two companies in the CREST case.

Further, one senior IFoS officer has already been arrested in the CREST Case. The CBI remains committed to bringing all those responsible to justice and to ensuring that the trail of misappropriated public funds is fully traced. (ANI)