Shifting the investigations to Labour Department, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested an accounts officer and a clerk in the Rs 657 crore bank scam. They were allegedly behind Rs 50.05 crore misappropriation in the bank account of Haryana Labour Welfare Board (HLWB), which is a part of the bank scam.

Both accused, accounts officer Jugal Kishore and accounts clerk Amit Kumar, were produced before CBI Special Court in Panchkula on Wednesday. The court sent them to two-day police custody.

According to CBI, Kishore functioned as Accounts Officer of Labour Welfare Board since August 21, 2024. He was responsible for all finance-related matters of Board and was the authorised signatory of the bank account opened with IDFC First Bank, Sector 32, Chandigarh.

He allegedly proposed the constitution of the committee for shortlisting the banks and signed all letters, cheques and correspondence with the banks.

CBI found that he signed Account Opening Form for Savings Account in IDFC First Bank. However, the sanction accorded by the competent authority was confined to the opening of a Fixed Deposit. By opening Savings Account, he allegedly enabled the creation of the operable account through which the funds were siphoned, said CBI. He signed the fund-transfer letters, including the letter transferring Rs 50 crore into IDFC First Bank’s Savings Account.

The then relationship manager of IDFC First Bank, Abhay Kumar, was the lead generator of the savings account. There were 12 fraudulent debit transactions from the account. Out of this, Rs 15.50 crore went to Swastik Desh Projects, Rs 21.11 crore went to Capco Fintech Services, and Rs 13.44 crore to SRR Planning Gurus Pvt Ltd, all shell entities floated by the accused to siphon off the funds.

Chirag Gulati of IDFC First Bank informed Kishore that Fixed Deposits did not exist and that Abhay Kumar’s services had been terminated. Still, Kishore did not enquire into the misappropriation and continued to deal with Abhay Kumar, CBI submitted before the court.

Amit Kumar had functioned as accounts clerk in Labour Welfare Board since January 1, 2019. He initiated the note-sheet for the investment of Board’s funds in Fixed Deposits and drafted the letters inviting quotations from banks and the letters for the opening of Fixed Deposits. CBI told the court that he played an active role in the opening of the unauthorised Savings Account with IDFC First Bank, and in the concealment of the fraud of more than Rs 50 crore.

According to CBI, the note-sheet processed by him did not record, at any stage, that a Savings Account (as distinct from the sanctioned Fixed Deposit by the competent authority) was being opened with IDFC First Bank, thereby keeping the very existence of an operable account outside the knowledge of the competent authority.

Amit Kumar’s counsel, Yavneet Dhakla, submitted that he was just a clerk and not the authorised signatory. He added that he had no role in the scam, and opposed his custody.

It was Amit Kumar who received the forged Fixed Deposit receipt from the accused relationship manager, Abhay Kumar, and placed it in the departmental file, thereby lending it official colour and perpetuating the false impression that the funds were invested in a Fixed Deposit, claimed CBI. He continued to deal with Abhay Kumar even after his services were terminated.

He didn’t make any inquiry with IDFC First Bank about misappropriation, even after Abhay Kumar’s arrest.

Now, CBI wants to unearth how the bank account was opened without any departmental record or approval, and on whose direction, and about the illegal gratification received by the accused.