CBI chargesheets 5 Haryana IAS officers in Rs 504-cr IDFC First Bank fraud case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against five Haryana IAS officers and 14 others in the Rs 504-crore IDFC First Bank fraud case on Wednesday. According to the CBI, public servants, in connivance with officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, illegally diverted funds of eight Haryana government departments and bodies from empanelled banks into specific branches of the two banks.

Among those chargesheeted, IAS officers Pankaj Agarwal and R K Singh were arrested and suspended, while a third IAS officer, Pradeep Kumar, was arrested in June on the day he was due to retire.

Three more senior IAS officers have been chargesheeted in the case. The chargesheet, filed before the special judge for CBI cases, also accuses three officers of IDFC First Bank and one officer of AU Small Finance Bank, as well as nine other Haryana government officials of bribery, criminal conspiracy, cheating, destruction of evidence, forgery, criminal breach of trust, and abetment.

According to the CBI, the eight government departments and bodies are the panchayat department, Municipal Corporations of Panchkula and Kalka, Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad, Haryana Labour Welfare Board, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, and Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited.

“The funds from these accounts were misappropriated through fraudulent means and transferred to third parties who were not connected with government departments. The amounts so transferred were layered through multiple bank accounts and converted into cash, and the accused wrongfully enriched themselves,” the CBI said.

The CBI took over the investigation from the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau at the government’s request. This is the third chargesheet filed in this case. The CBI had already chargesheeted 18 other accused people in the case, including officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, public servants, private individuals and private companies.

Three other IAS officers named in the chargesheet Apart from the arrested IAS officers, the other IAS officers named in the chargesheet are Vineet Garg, a 1991-batch IAS officer regarded as one of Haryana’s most senior bureaucrats; Saket Kumar, a 2005-batch IAS officer; and Mohammad Shayin, a 2002-batch officer.

Amid the CBI investigation into the IDFC First Bank fraud case, Vineet Garg was shifted on April 8 from his influential position as chairman of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board to the relatively low-profile post of additional chief secretary in the printing and stationery department.

Garg has held several key posts, including in the departments of excise and taxation, school education and higher education, in recent years. He has long been regarded as a potential contender for the post of chief secretary.

Shayin, who previously served as the deputy commissioner of Chandigarh, is posted as commissioner of the housing-for-all department. Saket Kumar too has held several key positions, including that of additional principal secretary to the chief minister from November 28, 2024, to April 10, 2026.

He has been serving as commissioner and secretary in the archives department since April 10. The total number of people chargesheeted in the case is now 37. Twenty-six of the accused have been arrested.

The CBI has conducted 54 searches and seized incriminating evidence, including gold worth approximately Rs 20 crore in the case.