Rs 25 crore diverted via cheque with ‘forged’ signatures: Inside the IDFC First Bank fraud

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV & ACB) headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Shukar Pal is now investigating these aspects after the department flagged multiple discrepancies in its February 18 inquiry report. Four accused are currently being interrogated, including former IDFC First Bank branch manager Ribhav Rishi, former bank relationship manager Abhay Kumar, Abhay’s wife Swati Singla, and her brother Abhishek Singla.

According to departmental sources, someone claiming to be an IDFC First Bank official had handed over a cheque book to the department after the account was opened in September 2025. The cheque book was later returned to this purported official with the explanation that the bank does not use cheques to make transactions from the scheme funds. Officials now suspect that cheques from this book, bearing forged signatures of the IAS officer who earlier headed the department, were used to divert funds.

The suspicion deepened when a senior officer approached the bank for withdrawals from the Rs 50 crore deposited under the Mukhyamantri Gramin Awas Yojana scheme. “The bank officials informed there were not enough funds available in the department’s accounts. They also refused to acknowledge the person who had taken back the cheque book,” said an official.

Another official explained, “We suspect that the signatures on the cheques were forged and it was very clear that they did not match the signatures of the IAS officer on whose behalf they were shown. Similarly, the debit notes were also apparently processed based on the forged signatures. Based on these cheques and debit notes, over Rs 46 crore from the department account was diverted to other accounts.”

What the inquiry report revealed

The inquiry report noted: “It has also been observed that one of the cheques processed by the bank mentions the amount in figures as ₹2,50,00,000/- (two crore fifty lakh), whereas the amount in words is written as ‘Rupees Twenty-Five,’ which has been honoured and processed by the bank indicating a serious discrepancy.” An official added: “Despite this discrepancy, the bank transferred Rs 25 crore to another account on the basis of a debit note.”

The report further revealed that account statements from IDFC First Bank showed transfers totalling Rs 46.56 crore to AU Small Finance Bank, based on cheques and debit notes, even though the department’s practice was to use only debit notes for Mukhyamantri Gramin Awas Yojana accounts.

SV & ACB Director General A S Chawla said, “On February 23, the Haryana chief secretary ordered us to register an FIR based on the inquiry report of the Panchayat Department, in which embezzlement of government funds was visible. Subsequently, an FIR was registered in Panchkula and an SIT was formed under the overall supervision of SP Ganga Ram Punia.” He added, “The investigations to trace the complete money trail will take some time. We are also bringing chartered accountants on board.”