CBI files chargesheet against 19 accused, including six Haryana IAS officers

On Wednesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet against 19 people. Among those accused are six Haryana-cadre IAS officers, three officials from IDFC First Bank, and one from AU Small Finance Bank. They are accused of misappropriating Rs 504 crore from several Haryana government departments and organisations.

This is the third chargesheet filed in the Haryana part of the investigation and was submitted to the Special Judge for CBI cases in Panchkula. In addition to the six IAS officers and four bank officials, nine other State Government officials are named. They face charges such as criminal conspiracy, cheating, destruction of evidence, forgery, use of fake documents, falsification of accounts, breach of trust, abetment under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and bribery and misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

With this latest filing, a total of 37 people and entities have now been chargesheeted in the Haryana case. Previously, the agency filed charges against 18 others, including bank officers, public servants, private individuals, and companies. Officials said 26 people have been arrested so far, and 54 searches have uncovered incriminating material, including gold worth about Rs 20 crore.

The CBI says its investigation found that public servants and bankers from IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank worked together on a planned scheme. Surplus funds from eight government departments and organisations were moved from approved banks into accounts at certain branches where the accused bank officers worked, mainly at IDFC First Bank’s Sector 32 branch in Chandigarh and a branch of AU Small Finance Bank.

The agency said these transfers broke Finance Department rules on financial prudence and fraud prevention. Instead of putting the money into a real fixed deposit, as claimed, investigators say the accused used fake or non-existent fixed-deposit receipts and false debit notes to divert the funds to unrelated third parties. The money was then moved through several accounts and converted into cash, which benefited the accused. They offered high interest rates to persuade officials to move idle Government balances into these accounts, after which the funds were siphoned off rather than invested.

The eight entities whose funds were affected include the Department of Panchayats, the Municipal Corporations of Panchkula and Kalka, the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad, the Haryana Labour Welfare Board, the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, and Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited.

The largest single loss found earlier in the investigation was about Rs 169 crore from HSPCB accounts. Other alleged losses of about Rs 60.54 crore were linked to school education and agricultural marketing accounts that were opened in violation of state rules. Investigators also looked into suspected siphoning from the Panchkula municipal corporation and other local bodies. These issues came to light earlier this year when departments tried to close or review accounts and found big differences between recorded deposits and actual bank balances.

Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau first registered the case in February. Because of the fraud’s size and complexity, the state government later asked the CBI to take over the investigation. The central agency re-registered the case and received approval to investigate the role of senior public servants.

Several senior officers and former bank executives had already been arrested in the earlier stages of the investigation, including those linked to the Panchkula municipal corporation, school education, agriculture, and the pollution control board, as well as former bank officials who allegedly approved account openings and debit transactions. Private individuals and shell companies named in earlier chargesheets are accused of receiving and moving the stolen money. Other CBI investigations involving Chandigarh Smart City Limited, the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, and CREST report another alleged diversion of about Rs 153 crore. This brings the total amount mentioned by the agency to about Rs 657 crore.

The Enforcement Directorate is also conducting a separate money-laundering investigation. After the fraud was discovered, IDFC First Bank publicly reported the unauthorised transactions. The bank returned much of the principal and interest to the Haryana Government, but said its employees had worked with outsiders.