Haryana: CBI Arrest IAS Pankaj Aggarwal Over Rs 504 Crore Scam

Chandigarh: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested IAS officer Pankaj Agarwal on Monday. The arrest was made in connection with the misappropriation of government funds from accounts belonging to the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojana Parishad (HSSPP) and the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) held at the IDFC First Bank branch in Sector 32, Chandigarh.

Why did the CBI take up this case?

The CBI had taken up this case at the behest of the Haryana government. Investigations revealed that these accounts were opened in violation of the existing rules of the Haryana government's Finance Department, and funds exceeding the prescribed limits were subsequently transferred into them.

The accounts were opened during the tenure of Pankaj Agarwal, who was the Principal Secretary at the time. The investigation uncovered that funds were misappropriated through fraudulent transactions involving these departmental accounts, resulting in a loss of ₹60.54 crore to the government. Concrete evidence against Pankaj Agarwal has been gathered during the investigation.

How much loss for the Haryana government?

This case is part of a broader CBI investigation into the alleged embezzlement of a total of ₹657 crore from IDFC First Bank accounts belonging to the Haryana government and the Chandigarh administration. A CBI spokesperson stated that the Haryana government suffered a loss of ₹504 crore due to these illicit transactions, while the loss in the Chandigarh case amounted to ₹153 crore. He added that Pankaj Agarwal was produced before a special court and subsequently remanded to custody for interrogation.

Chargesheet against 17 accused?

The CBI had taken up the investigation at the request of the Haryana government. The spokesperson stated that incriminating and criminal evidence against Pankaj Agarwal has been collected during the probe. The CBI has filed a chargesheet against 17 accused individuals in the Haryana case. These include six bank officials from IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, three Haryana government employees, two companies, and six private individuals. Senior IAS officer RK Singh, who was arrested in connection with the misappropriation of funds at the Panchkula Municipal Corporation, has been remanded to judicial custody following the expiration of his police remand.

The CBI (Chandigarh) is also investigating two other cases linked to the IDFC scam: one involving Chandigarh Smart City Limited and the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, and the other concerning Chandigarh CREST.

How did ​​the multi-crore scam unfold?

It is worth noting that the CBI took over the investigation from Haryana's State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau at the request of the state government. The fraud cases involving these two departments entailed the misappropriation of approximately ₹60.54 crore. This matter was part of a massive scam at the IDFC First Bank branch in Sector 32, where ₹504 crore belonging to eight Haryana government departments was embezzled and transferred to shell companies (bogus entities). So far, the CBI has filed a charge sheet against 17 accused individuals in this Haryana case, including six bank officials from IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, three Haryana government employees, two companies, and six private individuals.