Chandigarh, April 9 – The Haryana government suspended two IAS officers on Thursday in connection with the Rs 597 crore IDFC First and AU Small Finance Bank scam.
The suspended officers are Ram Kumar Singh, a 2012 batch officer who was the Additional CEO of the Panchkula Metropolitan Development Authority, and Pardeep Kumar, a 2012 batch officer who was the Director of State Transport and Special Secretary in the Transport Department.
According to the official order, during the suspension, the headquarters of both officers will be at the office of the Chief Secretary.
Last month, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted searches at 19 premises across Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Gurgaon, and Bangalore in connection with the IDFC First Bank case. During the searches, more than 90 bank accounts have been frozen, and incriminating material in the form of digital as well as documentary evidence has been seized, the ED had said in a statement.
The ED's Chandigarh Zonal Office said that the money was misappropriated from the accounts of the Haryana government, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, and other government agencies.
The ED initiated an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Panchkula, in February 2026, in relation to a mismatch of balances in the bank account of the Development and Panchayat Department, Haryana, held with IDFC Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.
The money was to be kept as a fixed deposit with the bank; however, the accused diverted these government funds without authorisation, the ED said.
The search operations have covered former bank employees, namely Ribhav Rishi and Abhay Kumar, their family members, and beneficiary shell entities, namely M/s. Swastik Desh Projects, M/s. Capco Fintech Services, and M/s. Mis Maa Vaibhav Laxmi Interiors, M/s. SRR Planning Gurus Private Limited, Sawan Jewellers (a jewellery firm), and real estate developers like Vikram Wadhwa and his business entities.
Searches have revealed that the public funds embezzled by the accused persons have been routed and layered across multiple shell entities.
The ED said that the accused’s modus operandi involved the incorporation of a shell entity, Swastik Desh Projects, and diverting government funds to this account initially. The partners of Swastik Desh are Swati Singla and Abhishek Singla.
Thereafter, a majority of the funds have been channelised through the bank accounts of jewellers to create an illusion of gold purchase through bogus billing, the ED said.
The scam was perpetuated over the last year, approximately, with the assistance of the ex-bank employees, said the ED.
Rishi, who is one of the ex-employees of IDFC First Bank, had utilised the various shell companies for siphoning off the bank funds, it said. He resigned from the bank in June 2025.
Some of the proceeds of crime were even dissipated to the bank accounts of Rishi and his wife, Divya Arora, the ED said. Besides, a significant amount was siphoned off by Wadhwa, a hotelier and real estate developer running various projects at Mohali, the ED said.