CBI Nabs IAS Officer on Superannuation Day in Haryana's Rs 169 Crore Bank Fraud

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested IAS officer Pradeep Kumar on the day he was set to retire, along with two former bank officials, in connection with the alleged misappropriation of Rs 504 crore belonging to eight Haryana government departments maintained at IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, officials said on Tuesday.

Kumar, a 2011 batch Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officer who was later promoted to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), was serving as Member Secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) when the alleged misappropriation took place. The CBI said the fraud caused a net loss of Rs 169 crore to the state government. Kumar had been absconding and had applied for anticipatory bail in a Panchkula court, with the hearing scheduled for July 2.

Kumar is the third bureaucrat arrested by the CBI in this case, after IAS officers Ram Kumar Singh and Pankaj Agarwal. The Haryana government had suspended Kumar and another IAS officer, RK Singh, on April 8 for their alleged roles in the scam.

According to the CBI, investigations revealed that Kumar had a direct nexus with the fraud as he handled all investment-related work himself. Funds for fixed deposits were sent to IDFC First Bank far exceeding prescribed limits. The agency noted that there was no record of the account opened at the bank's Sector 32 branch in Chandigarh. "The conspiracy was so deep that the account got opened without any approvals and funds were transferred in the name of creating fixed deposits. No fixed deposits were created," the CBI stated.

Instead, fraudulent debit transactions were carried out from this account, resulting in the misappropriation of funds and a net loss of approximately Rs 169 crore to the state government. This represents the single-largest financial loss suffered by any of the eight affected departments in the overall scam of Rs 504 crore.

The CBI also accused Shamim Dar, then area head of IDFC First Bank, and Charanjeet Singh Randhawa, then branch manager of AU Small Finance Bank's Mohali branch, of facilitating the opening of accounts and processing fraudulent transactions through which public funds were diverted. The agency said it had collected incriminating evidence against both.

The CBI took over the investigation from the Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau at the state government's request. The probe focuses on the alleged fraud at IDFC First Bank's Sector 32 branch, where funds from eight departments were siphoned through forged or non-existent fixed deposits and debit notes, later routed to shell entities.

So far, the CBI has chargesheeted 17 accused, including six bank officials, three Haryana government officials, two companies, and six private individuals. The agency is also investigating two other cases transferred from the Chandigarh administration, involving Chandigarh Smart City Limited and the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, and another concerning the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society.