On 22nd June (Monday), senior IAS officer Pankaj Aggarwal has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in relation to the embezzlement of public funds from accounts held by the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB) and the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP) at the Sector 32 branch of IDFC First Bank in Chandigarh.
He was the Principal Secretary of the School Education and Agriculture departments at the time. He was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. The Haryana Government handed over the case to CBI from State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. The latter’s investigation showed that the accounts of the two departments were opened in violation of Haryana Finance Department regulations.
Money was transferred into them in excess of the permission. The agency outlined that these accounts were set-up during Aggarwal’s tenure as Principal Secretary. They were used for illicit transactions of government funds. “Investigation revealed that through fraudulent transactions in the accounts of these departments, funds were misappropriated, causing a net loss of ₹60.54 crore to the government. During investigation, incriminating evidence against Pankaj Aggarwal has been collected,” the CBI informed.
It is a part of a bigger fraud at the IDFC First Bank branch in Sector 32 where money from 8 Haryana government departments totalling ₹504 crores was taken out and sent to shell companies. Chargesheets have been filed against 17 perpetrators thus far. They consist of 3 Haryana government officials, 2 firms, 6 private persons and 6 employees from IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.
RK Singh, another senior IAS officer, has already been apprehended in connection with misappropriation in the Panchkula Municipal Corporation. After his police remand ended, he was placed into judicial custody.
Additionally, the CBI stated that it has taken over two related cases involving the Centre for Research and Industrial Staff Performance (CREST) and Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) and chargesheets have already been submitted.
Five bankers, one CSCL official and one private person have all been indicted by the agency in the CSCL case. Five bankers, two CREST officers, four private persons, and two businesses have been implicated in the CREST case which also resulted in the arrest of a top Indian Forest Service officer. According to the CBI, investigations are on to track the diversion of public funds and find out the culprits.
