Pushpinder Singh, the alleged mastermind of the Kotak Mahindra Bank-Panchkula Municipal Corporation (MC) fraud case, used the proceeds of crime to buy a fleet of luxury vehicles, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed.
According to the ED, the high-end vehicles include a Porsche Cayenne, BMW 740LI, BMW X7, BMW 749i, BMW Z4, Jeep Wrangler (2021 and 2024 models), Land Cruiser and a Harley Davidson. The agency further alleged that after the fraud came to light, the luxury vehicles were sold to third parties.
The investigation agency has filed a prosecution complaint against nine accused persons in the alleged fraud worth more than Rs 100 crore.
“During the investigation, it was learnt that Pushpinder Singh had purchased many luxury vehicles… out of the proceeds of crime which had been siphoned off from the funds of MC Panchkula,” according to the ED.
The ED’s Chandigarh Zonal Unit has stated that it had filed a prosecution complaint on July 30 against nine accused persons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and had also issued a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) on July 29, attaching assets worth Rs 131.13 crore.
According to the ED, the money laundering probe stems from an FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Panchkula, under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Prevention of Corruption Act against unknown officers and officials of Kotak Mahindra Bank.
The FIR alleges embezzlement of funds belonging to the MC, Panchkula, through a “deep-rooted and well-organised criminal conspiracy” by bank officials.
The ED alleged that Pushpinder Singh, then deputy vice-president of Kotak Mahindra Bank, in connivance with Vikas Kaushik, an official of the MC, Panchkula, and bank employee Dilip Raghav, opened two unauthorised bank accounts in the name of MC Panchkula using a series of fake documents and authorisations.
According to the agency, genuine communications, authorisation letters and instructions sent by MC Panchkula were allegedly disregarded, while parallel authorisation letters were created by Pushpinder Singh and Kaushik to facilitate the opening of the two illegal accounts.
The ED further alleged that funds from the corporation’s genuine bank accounts were transferred to these unauthorised accounts. It also alleged that Satish Kumar of Kotak Mahindra Bank was involved in siphoning off the funds.
The ED further alleged that the mobile numbers and email IDs linked to both the fake and genuine MC Panchkula accounts were updated with contact details controlled by Vikas Kaushik and Pushpinder Singh to bypass the bank’s internal checks and balances, enabling the fraud to be executed seamlessly.
The agency said that once the money reached the unauthorised accounts, it was transferred to individuals including Rajat Dahra, Swati Tomar, Kapil Kumar, Vinod Kumar and Sonia, and to entities including S.K. Agrotech and S.K. Agrofirm, for further layering and disguising the source of the proceeds of crime.
According to the ED, the intermediary accounts of Tomar and Dahra were under the effective control of Pushpinder Singh and were used to transfer the illegally received funds to his personal accounts, those of his wife Preeti Thakur, and for the purchase of movable and immovable properties, including luxury cars, watches and furniture.
The agency also alleged that the funds were utilised by Pushpinder Singh to advance unsecured loans to individuals including Sunny Garg, Priyanka Garg, Samar Mohan Ranga and Aryan Singh, and to entities such as Sanat Realtors Pvt Ltd, Central Infradevelopers, Sanat Ventures Enterprises LLP, Savage Records Pvt Ltd and Sanat Enterprises Pvt Ltd, allegedly charging interest at the rate of 3 per cent per month (36 per cent annually) in cash.
The ED further claimed that its investigation established an abnormal increase in the income of Pushpinder’s wife Preeti from financial year 2022-2023 onwards and a significant rise in the turnover and profits of her firm, Chaudhary & Sethi Legal Advisory Pvt Ltd, from FY 2023-24 onwards, coinciding with the period of the alleged offence. The firm, the ED alleged, was used for disposal of movable and immovable properties acquired from the proceeds of crime.
Searches under Section 17(1) of the PMLA were conducted on April 22 this year led to the seizure of incriminating documents and evidence, the agency said.
It also claimed that Pushpinder Singh deliberately sold properties in Sector 2, Panchkula, to his sister Gunita Sethi using funds received by her from Chaudhary & Sethi Legal Advisory Pvt Ltd, describing the transactions as a “round tripping” exercise intended to disguise ownership and prevent attachment under the PMLA.
According to the ED, Rs 107.24 crore of MC Panchkula funds were retained in the illegal accounts and those of intermediaries and beneficiaries. The agency said the total value of the proceeds of crime provisionally attached stands at Rs 131.13 crore, comprising Rs 12.85 crore in bank balances and Rs 118.28 crore in immovable properties. The ED claimed it had “successfully made attachments of 100 per cent of the embezzled funds of MC Panchkula within a span of four months from the registration of the FIR by the LEA”.
The ED has alleged Pushpinder Singh as the mastermind in the case. He was arrested on June 1, 2026, and remanded in nine days custody by the Special PMLA Court, Panchkula.
The investigation agency has filed a prosecution complaint against nine accused persons in the alleged fraud worth more than Rs 100 crore. (Express Photo) 
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