Chandigarh, May 15 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at multiple locations in Chandigarh and Panchkula, in connection with the Haryana IDFC First Bank/AU Small Finance bank scam on Thursday, to trace “the routing and siphoning of ill-gotten money” from the large-scale embezzlement of funds, an official statement said on Friday.

Searches were conducted at 7 locations, including residential premises, business establishments/showrooms of jewellers, premises of suspected beneficiaries of the misappropriated government funds, and other private entities connected with the investigation.

During searches, various incriminating documents and articles were recovered and seized. These include financial records and digital evidence on the fraud and suspected misappropriation.

So far, 16 accused persons have been arrested in the case.

“The investigation has been expedited by the CBI, and several leads are being pursued. CBI is committed to conducting a comprehensive investigation in this case in the quickest possible time,” the investigative agency said in the statement.

The case was handed over to the CBI by the Government of Haryana for investigation. It is alleged that certain officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, in connivance with public servants of various departments of the Government of Haryana, misappropriated Government funds through fraudulent means.

The IDFC First Bank fraud first came to light in February this year as an official in the Haryana government’s Development and Panchayats department sought to close its account and transfer the balance to another bank. It was during this small banking transaction that a scam of this scale surfaced, showing massive discrepancies between the records and the actual balance.

Haryana’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau initially lodged an FIR in the case, but the state government subsequently transferred it to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The ED, too, subsequently launched a parallel probe.

The IDFC First Bank maintains that it had repaid Rs 557 crore to the concerned state government departments; however, the investigation was still underway.

–IANS

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