The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed its first chargesheet in the alleged diversion of funds belonging to the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST) and named CREST’s project director, Sukhwinder Abrol, businessman Vikram Wadhwa and 11 others in the multi-crore financial fraud.
The chargesheet, running over 240 pages, was submitted before the special CBI court in Chandigarh with 11 individuals and two shell companies named as accused. Besides Abrol and Wadhwa, the chargesheet names bankers Ribhav Rishi, Abhay Kumar and Seema Dhiman and two other unnamed bank officials and CREST accountant Sahul Kukkar.
Names of Wadhwa and Rishi have figured in other fraud cases also reported in Haryana and Chandigarh. The names of shell entities CAPCO Fintech Services and Swastik Desh Project also figured in the list through which funds were routed and siphoned off. These names have been revealed by the sources. The CBI in its media statement has not put out any names.
“A total of 13 accused persons have been charge-sheeted, comprising five bank officials of IDFC First Bank, two public servants of the CREST (Chandigarh administration), two shell entities along with four private persons.
All accused persons are presently under judicial custody. They have been chargesheeted for offences of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, destruction of evidence, and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the CBI said in its statement, adding that the case pertains to the misappropriation of government funds to the tune of ₹75 crore, siphoned off from bank accounts of CREST by IDFC First bank officials in criminal connivance with public servants of CREST. The siphoned off funds were then diverted in connivance with several private persons who have also benefitted from these funds.
Initially, the case was investigated by the economic offence wing of the Chandigarh police and in April UT administration entrusted the probe to CBI.
The CREST case is one of three major fund-diversion investigations currently being handled by the CBI after the agency took over the probes from state authorities. Earlier, the agency had filed chargesheets in the Haryana government departments case involving ₹600 crore and in the Chandigarh Smart City fund diversion case with an estimated amount of ₹116 crore.
The probe was initiated following a complaint by the society’s chief executive officer, who flagged suspicious and unauthorised transactions at the IDFC bank’s sector 32 branch. Initial investigation suggested that during reconciliation of records with original bank statements, 272 unauthorised transactions were identified in one CREST account and 31 in another, with a total shortfall pegged at ₹75.16 crore. Shell firms were purportedly created and the siphoned money was allegedly channelled into real estate investments and withdrawn in cash through various entities, including jewellery firms.
