IDFC First Bank Scam: Who Is Pardeep Kumar, Haryana IAS Arrested Hours Before Retirement?

Hours before he was due to retire, the CBI arrested IAS officer Pardeep Kumar on Tuesday for his alleged role in the Rs 504-crore IDFC First Bank fraud case. Kumar, who served as Member Secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), had allegedly been evading the investigation for months before agencies tracked down his location and took him into custody.

Tuesday was also reportedly the date of his superannuation, making the timing of the arrest significant. He is the third IAS officer to be arrested in connection with the case, after Ram Kumar Singh and Pankaj Agarwal were taken into custody earlier this year.

Who Is IAS Pardeep Kumar And What Is He Accused Of?

Pardeep Kumar is a 2011-batch HCS officer who was later promoted to the IAS cadre. He was posted as Member Secretary

of HSPCB when the alleged fraud took place at IDFC First Bank’s Sector-32 branch in Chandigarh, and the Haryana government suspended him along with fellow IAS officer RK Singh on April 8 over their alleged role in the scam.

According to the CBI, Kumar personally oversaw HSPCB’s investment operations and sent funds meant for fixed deposits to IDFC First Bank far beyond permitted limits. The agency said Kumar’s “actions…had a direct nexus with the fraud” as he handled the board’s investments at his own level.

Officials found that the account used to route HSPCB’s money into fixed deposits had no paperwork showing it was ever formally approved. The CBI said the department could produce no record of how or why the account was opened, and called the alleged conspiracy so deep that the account was opened without any authorisation while funds kept flowing in under the pretext of creating FDs.

None of the promised fixed deposits actually existed, investigators found. Instead, money was allegedly drained out through fraudulent debit transactions, leaving HSPCB with a net loss of close to Rs 169 crore — the single largest loss suffered by any of the Haryana departments hit by the scam.

According to News18 Hindi, Kumar had allegedly been avoiding the probe despite repeated summons and went underground once the scam surfaced, before the CBI eventually traced his whereabouts and arrested him. His lawyers had separately moved an anticipatory bail plea before a Special CBI Court in Panchkula, which was listed for hearing on July 2, The Print reported. In the advance bail plea, Kumar’s counsel reportedly tried to pin responsibility on HSPCB’s then chairman, arguing that Kumar operated under the chairman’s supervision and had merely followed verbal instructions.

What Is The IDFC First Bank Scam: A Recap

The case centres on an alleged large-scale diversion of government funds parked with IDFC First Bank’s Sector-32 branch in Chandigarh and AU Small Finance Bank. According to the CBI, roughly Rs 504 crore belonging to eight Haryana government departments was siphoned off through forged or non-existent fixed deposits and fake debit transactions, with the money eventually routed to shell companies.

The Print reported that once two Chandigarh departments are factored in, the total alleged diversion runs to nearly Rs 645 crore.

The CBI took over the investigation from Haryana’s State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau at the state government’s request. Two former bank officials — Shamim Dar, then area head of IDFC First Bank, and Charanjeet Singh Randhawa, former branch manager at AU Small Finance Bank’s Mohali branch — were arrested earlier.

So far, the CBI has filed chargesheets against 17 people, including bank officials from IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, government servants, two companies and several private individuals.

The agency has also taken over two related cases from the Chandigarh administration; one involving Chandigarh Smart City Limited and the Municipal Corporation and another tied to the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST). Multiple accused have been chargesheeted in both.