Haryana: CBI charges 6 IAS officers, 13 others in Rs 504 Cr scam

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet on Wednesday, before the Special CBI Court, Panchkula, against 19 accused persons in the case relating to misappropriation of Government funds of various departments and organisations of the Government of Haryana maintained at IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank. This is the third chargesheet filed by the CBI in this case.
The present chargesheet has been filed against six IAS officers of Haryana Cadre, three officers of IDFC First Bank and one officer of AU Small Finance Bank, and nine other officials of the Haryana State Government for offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, destruction of evidence, forgery, using false documents as genuine, falsification of accounts, criminal breach of trust and abetment under BNS and for offences of bribery and criminal misconduct under Prevention of Corruption Act. 
Investigation established that the accused public servants, in connivance with the bankers of IDFC First and AU Small Finance Banks, orchestrated and executed the fraudulent scheme in a planned sequence. The funds of 8 Haryana Government departments from various empanelled banks were transferred into specific branches of IDFC and AU Small Finance Banks where the accused bank officers are working as part of the conspiracy by opening the bank accounts in these bank branches. In this process the guidelines of the Finance Department, Govt. of Haryana, on financial prudence and fraud prevention, were violated. 
According to CBI statement, the funds from these accounts were misappropriated through fraudulent means and transferred to third parties who were not connected with government departments. The amounts transferred were layered through multiple bank accounts and converted into cash, and the accused wrongfully enriched themselves. 
Eight departments and organisations of the Government of Haryana namely, Department of Panchayat, Municipal Corporations of Panchkula and Kalka, Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP), Haryana Labour Welfare Board (HLWB), Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB), Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), and Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) were affected by this scam. The total quantum of the fraud is Rs. 504 crore, said the statement.
Prior to the present chargesheet, the CBI had already chargesheeted 18 other accused persons in this case, which included bank officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, public servants of the Government of Haryana, private individuals and private companies. With the filing of the present chargesheet, the total number of persons chargesheeted so far in this case is 37. CBI has conducted 54 searches and seized incriminating evidences including gold worth approx. Rs 20 cr in this case and arrested 26 accused so far.
The CBI has also taken over two other related cases from the Union Territory of Chandigarh, one pertaining to Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) and Municipal Corporation Chandigarh, and the other relating to Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST). Chargesheets have already been filed in both these cases. 

(Freelance Journalist)