The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took major action on Tuesday and arrested senior Haryana IAS Pankaj Aggarwal. The investigating agency has arrested Aggarwal on charges of embezzlement of government funds worth Rs 60.54 crore. Many important evidences have also been found against him in the investigation. He will be presented in the court today itself.
CBI arrested Agarwal, a senior IAS officer in the Haryana government, in a case of embezzlement of government funds on a large scale. Aggarwal has been Principal Secretary in School Education Department and Agriculture Department. This arrest has been made in the case of misuse of government funds from the accounts of Haryana School Education Project Council (HSSPP) and Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) located in Sector 32 branch of IDFC First Bank, Chandigarh.
Haryana government handed over investigation to CBI
When the case of embezzlement in government funds came to light, the Haryana government handed over the investigation of the case to CBI. After this CBI took over the investigation. Investigation revealed that these accounts were opened by the department in violation of the existing rules of the Finance Department of Haryana Government and later funds were transferred in excess of the prescribed limit. These accounts were opened when Agarwal was the Principal Secretary.
The investigation revealed that funds were misappropriated through fraudulent transactions in the accounts of these departments, causing a huge loss of Rs 60.54 crore to the government. During the investigation, concrete evidence has been collected against Aggarwal.
Chargesheet against 17 accused till now
On the request of the state government, the CBI took over the investigation from the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau of Haryana. In the fraud in these two departments, about Rs 60.54 crore was embezzled. This was part of a big scam in the Sector-32 branch of IDFC First Bank, in which Rs 504 crore from 8 departments of the Haryana government was withdrawn and sent to shell companies.
In this case, CBI has so far filed charge sheet against 17 accused, which include 6 bank officials of IDFC First Bank/AU Small Finance Bank, 3 government employees of Haryana Government, 2 companies and 6 other people.
Case in Panchkula Municipal Corporation, another arrest
On the other hand, senior IAS officer R. was arrested in the case of misuse of funds in Panchkula Municipal Corporation. Of. Singh has been sent to judicial custody after the police remand ends. CBI has taken over 2 more cases from Chandigarh Union Territory.
One case is related to Chandigarh Smart City (CSCL)/Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and the other is related to CREST Chandigarh. The investigating agency has also filed a charge sheet each in these cases. Agency files charge sheet against 5 bankers, 1 CSCL official and 1 other in CSCL case
Whereas in the case related to CREST, charge sheet was filed against 5 bankers, 2 CREST officials, 4 other people and 2 companies. Apart from this, a senior IFoS officer has already been arrested in the CREST case.
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