New Delhi, June 23 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested senior IAS officer Pankaj Aggarwal in connection with the alleged misappropriation of government funds from accounts maintained by the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP) and the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) at the Sector 32 branch of IDFC First Bank in Chandigarh.

Aggarwal, who served as the Principal Secretary of the School Education Department and the Agriculture Department at the time of the alleged irregularities, was arrested on June 22.

He is scheduled to be produced before a court on Tuesday.

The investigation was taken over by the CBI following a reference from the Haryana government. According to the agency, the accounts of HSSPP and HSAMB were opened in violation of existing guidelines issued by the Finance Department of the Haryana government.

Funds were subsequently transferred to these accounts in excess of the prescribed limits. The accounts were reportedly opened during Aggarwal’s tenure as Principal Secretary.

The probe further revealed that fraudulent transactions were carried out through these accounts, resulting in the alleged misappropriation of public funds and causing a net loss of approximately Rs 60.54 crore to the state exchequer. The CBI stated that it has gathered incriminating evidence against the senior bureaucrat during the course of its investigation.

The case forms part of a much larger banking fraud involving the Sector 32 branch of IDFC First Bank, where funds amounting to nearly Rs 504 crore belonging to eight Haryana government departments were allegedly siphoned off and routed through shell entities.

The CBI had earlier taken over the investigation from the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Haryana, at the request of the state government.

So far, the agency has filed chargesheets against 17 accused in the Haryana case.

These include six officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, three Haryana government officials, two companies, and six private individuals.

In a related development, senior IAS officer R.K. Singh, who was arrested in connection with the alleged misappropriation of funds linked to the Municipal Corporation of Panchkula, has been remanded to judicial custody following the completion of his police remand.

The CBI has also taken over two separate cases from the Chandigarh Union Territory, one involving the Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) and the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, and another related to the Centre for Research and Industrial Staff Performance (CREST).

Chargesheets in each of these cases have also been filed by the CBI. The agency has charge-sheeted seven accused in the CSCL case and 13 accused in the CREST case, including bankers, government officials, private individuals, and companies. A senior Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer has already been arrested in the CREST case.

–IANS

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