The allegations are contained in the agency’s latest chargesheet in the Rs 504-crore Haryana government funds case, widening the investigation from questionable bank deposits to alleged quid pro quo, lavish hospitality and personal benefits.
The Statesman had reported on September 3 that the CBI’s third chargesheet named 19 accused, including six Haryana-cadre IAS officers and four bank officials. The filing took the total number of people chargesheeted in the case to 37.
“The funds from these accounts were misappropriated through fraudulent means,” the CBI has said.
According to the agency, money was transferred to third parties unconnected with the government bodies and subsequently moved through multiple accounts. The amounts were eventually “converted into cash”, the CBI said, alleging that the accused “wrongfully enriched themselves”.
Behind that banking trail, the chargesheet describes an alleged network involving cash, gold and lavish hospitality.
Pankaj Agarwal, who served as chairman of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, is accused of receiving “undue advantages” linked to the placement of government funds. The CBI alleges that these included liquor, luxury hotel stays and private dance parties.
Some gatherings were allegedly organised at a private villa in Zirakpur, near Chandigarh, where women dancers were allegedly brought from Delhi. At one such party, investigators claim that currency notes worth lakhs of rupees were showered on the dancers.
The chargesheet also alleges arrangements involving women for sexual favours.
Agarwal has denied wrongdoing. His counsel has described the allegations as “baseless” and maintained that searches at Agarwal’s residence yielded no incriminating recovery.
The alleged benefits were not confined to parties.
Vineet Garg, who headed the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, is alleged to have received cash running into crores and gold worth lakhs through an intermediary. Investigators have sought to connect those alleged payments with decisions involving the placement of the board’s funds with a private bank.
The prosecution case puts the alleged loss from two Pollution Control Board accounts at about Rs 169.69 crore.
Another money trail runs through Panchkula Municipal Corporation. Ram Kumar Singh, then Municipal Commissioner, is accused of facilitating the placement of municipal money with IDFC First Bank. Investigators put the alleged loss from the corporation’s account at about Rs 79.46 crore.
The CBI has also alleged that Singh received several crores through hawala transactions. Some of the alleged payments were delivered at his Chandigarh residence, according to the prosecution case.
Investigators have examined the circumstances in which fixed deposits of around Rs 80 crore were placed with the bank, including how quotations were sought and how quickly the deposits were subsequently moved.
Mohammad Shayin, then managing director of Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd, figures in another part of the case. The CBI alleges that he facilitated the opening of an account and placement of Rs 50 crore and received cash and hospitality linked to the arrangement.
Investigators have also examined an alleged 14 per cent compensatory-interest arrangement connected with the HPGCL deposits, including whether the additional return was a genuine banking offer or was financed separately.
Saket Kumar figures in the chargesheet over an account connected with the Development and Panchayats Department. The CBI puts the alleged loss from fraudulent transactions in that account at around Rs 48.90 crore.
On the banking side, former IDFC First Bank manager Ribhav Rishi is a key accused. Investigators allege that diverted government money was layered through multiple accounts and entities before being converted into cash and assets.
The CBI has alleged that Rishi acquired high-value watches, a BMW and property in Dubai during the period under investigation.
His lawyer has denied wrongdoing, arguing that allegations in a chargesheet cannot by themselves establish guilt.
The Rs 504-crore case involves funds belonging to eight Haryana government departments and organisations, including the Pollution Control Board, Agricultural Marketing Board, Haryana Power Generation Corporation, Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad, Labour Welfare Board, D
The CBI says it has carried out 54 searches and arrested 26 accused during the investigation. Evidence seized includes gold valued at about Rs 20 crore.
The agency has not said that the entire Rs 20 crore worth of gold was recovered from the six IAS officers named in the latest chargesheet.
The case includes allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, falsification of accounts, criminal breach of trust and corruption.
Further investigation is continuing.
For the six IAS officers, another legal step also remains: the chargesheet was filed without prosecution sanction, and the trial court cannot take cognisance against them until the required approvals are obtained.
The allegations will ultimately have to be tested in court, where each of the accused is entitled to challenge the CBI’s evidence.
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