CHANDIGARH: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested senior Haryana cadre IAS officer Pankaj Aggarwal in connection with the alleged misappropriation of government funds from accounts of the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP) and the State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB) maintained at the Sector 32 branch of IDFC First Bank in Chandigarh.
He is the second IAS officer to be arrested after Ram Kumar Singh.
Aggrawal, a 2000 batch IAS officer, was the then Principal Secretary in the Department of School Education and Agriculture. He was the Administrative Secretary for the School Education Department too.
During his tenure, a total of Rs 10 crore was allegedly siphoned off from the HSAMB account in the IDFC First Bank in Sector 32, Chandigarh. The account was maintained under the name Agriculture Marketing Development Fund.
A total of Rs 9.75 crore was transferred to SRR Planning Gurus Limited, and Rs 25 lakh went to Mannat Contractors. Both are shell firms and were floated to allegedly siphon off government funds.
Aggarwal is also connected to the siphoning of funds from Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojana Parishad. Over Rs 50 crore was allegedly siphoned off from the School Education Department.
Both the accounts of Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojana Parishad and Haryana Agriculture Marketing Board were opened during Agarwal’s tenure, in violation of the Finance Department guidelines.
The CBI alleged that the accounts were opened during the tenure of Aggarwal and that fraudulent transactions carried out through them led to the misappropriation of government funds, causing a net loss of Rs 60.54 crore to the state exchequer.
The agency claimed that it had collected incriminating evidence against the officer during the investigation.
The arrest marks a significant development in the investigation into an alleged banking fraud involving officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, who are accused of colluding with government officials to siphon funds worth Rs 504 crore from accounts of Haryana government departments and civic bodies through forged and non-existent fixed deposits and routed through shell entities.
It is learnt that eight IAS officers are under the scanner in the scam. Two of them have been arrested. Others are Mohd Shayin, Mani Ram Sharma, Pardeep Kumar, Vineet Garg, Saket Kumar and DK Behera.
The apex investigating agency stated that senior IAS officer R K Singh, who was arrested earlier in connection with alleged misappropriation of funds linked to the Municipal Corporation, Panchkula, has since been remanded to judicial custody after the expiry of his police remand.
The CBI had taken over the probe from the Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau at the request of the state government. So far, 17 accused have been charge-sheeted in the case, including six bank officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, three Haryana government officials, two companies and six private individuals.
The agency also stated that it has taken over two related cases from Chandigarh involving Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) and the Centre for Research and Industrial Staff Performance (CREST).
In both cases, the charge sheets have already been filed. In the CSCL case, the agency has charge-sheeted five bankers, one CSCL official and one private individual. In the CREST case, five bankers, two CREST officials, four private individuals and two companies have been charge-sheeted. A senior Indian Forest Service officer has also been arrested in the CREST case.
It added that the probe is going on to trace the flow of allegedly misappropriated public funds and identify all those involved.
While the CBI has put the quantum of loss at Rs 657 crore, the Enforcement Directorate, which is also investigating the scam, claims a loss of Rs 645 crore.