A former bank manager of the IFDC First Bank, Sector 32 Branch, has alleged in his disclosure statement that he paid for installation of solar systems at certain auditors’ residences at their instance, routing the payments from his personal accounts to CREST project director Sukhwinder Singh Abrol.
The statement was made by Rishav Rishi and forms part of the remand papers submitted by the police before a local court, which on Monday granted three days custody of the accused, along with two other bank employees Abhay Kumar and Seema Dhiman.
The three were produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Dr Prikshit, where the Chandigarh Police sought remand of seven days of the three, for investigation into FIR no. 2, registered by EOW (Economic Offences Wing) of Chandigarh Police.
Police told the court that custodial interrogation of the accused is required to recover the system on which the alleged forged FDRs were prepared, verify the role of bank officials and municipal corporation employees, and identify other co-accused. The police submitted that the remand was necessary to ascertain the modus operandi and conduct cross-examination with other suspects.
On hearing arguments of the defence counsel and the prosecution, the court granted four days’ remand of accused bank officials. Advocates A S Sukhija, Deepanshu Bansal, and Shahzad Singh Jeji have been appearing on behalf of accused bank officials. Advocate P K Dogra has been appearing for IDFC First Bank.
In his disclosure statement recorded during interrogation, Rishi stated that the FDR receipts and statement of bank account no. 99988877765 shown to him during the investigation do not bear his signatures, nor have he issued these FDR receipts or bank statements.
Rishi alleged that “…the bank accounts of the Municipal Corporation and Smart City were handled by Abhay Kumar (Relationship Manager on behalf of IDFC First Bank) while from the Municipal Corporation side, all transactions related to these accounts were dealt with by its employee, Anubhav Mishra, Accountant…”
Rishi also claimed that “..the blank FDR receipt forms were taken by Anubhav Mishra from Priyanka Bhatoa, a teller of IDFC First Bank Sector 32 Branch… I have never signed any such documents. These FDR receipts and bank statements have been prepared by Anubhav Mishra and Abhay Kumar…”
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Referring to a transaction reflected in the bank statement, he stated that “a transaction dated September 1, 2025 amounting to Rs 4,98,61,578 was made from the municipal corporation account to the bank account of Sunlive Solar,” adding that it “was approved by bank authoriser Seema Dhiman” on the basis of approvals from a banking relationship manager and a senior official of the bank.
He alleged that the approval authority of Dhirender Pratap was limited to Rs 5 crore. Therefore, the transaction was approved of Rs 4,98,61,578, and further Rishi termed the transaction “unauthorised”.
On the issue of audits, Rishi alleged: “Further, audits of all branches of IDFC First Bank are conducted every three months and such audits were carried out in the Sector 32 Branch, Chandigarh. The audits were carried out by Naresh Sukhija and Deepak Kumar. In order to manage these audits, I, at their instance, got solar systems installed at their residences. The payments for the same were made by me from my personal savings accounts into the account of Sukhwinder Singh Abrol, Project Director, CREST…”, alleged Rishi in disclosure statement to the Chandigarh Police, adding that he was willing to undergo cross-examination.
Co-accused Seema Dhiman, in her disclosure statement, alleged, “…the bank statement of account no. 99988877765… reflects that on September 1, 2025, a transaction of Rs 4,98,61,578 was made… The said transaction was approved by me on the basis of approvals received from Shamim Darr…” She stated that the amount “was deliberately kept below Rs 5 crore and approved in alleged connivance with Municipal Corporation officials,” adding that the transaction “was unauthorised”.
Dhiman also stated she was willing to undergo cross-examination along with the officials named.
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Abhay Kumar, in his disclosure statement, also denied issuing any FDRs or bank statements.
He stated in disclosure statement, “…the FDR receipts and bank account statement… do not bear my signatures, nor have I issued these FDR receipts or bank statements”. Kumar said that transactions related to the accounts “were handled by… Anubhav Mishra, Accountant,” and alleged that “the blank FDR receipt forms were taken” from a bank teller of IDFC First Bank, Sector 32 Branch. He alleged that “these FDR receipts and bank statements have been prepared by Anubhav Mishra…”
According to the remand application, scrutiny of records revealed that fixed deposit receipts amounting to approximately Rs 116.84 crore, shown as active assets during the handover of records, were not found in the bank’s system. The police also flagged three payment entries totalling over Rs 8.22 crore that allegedly did not match records of the Municipal Corporation, and appear suspicious and require detailed probe.
According to the police, a preliminary scrutiny and cross-verification of original bank statements received via email on February 24, 2026, with the records handed over to the Municipal Corporation during the closure of the Smart City project, revealed serious discrepancies. Police found that the bank statements submitted at the time of handing over charge in March-April 2025 by officials of the Smart City project did not match the original statements later obtained from IDFC First Bank. Several debit and credit entries in the earlier records were found to be suspicious and appeared to be allegedly fabricated, the police said.
The police stated that fixed deposits amounting to approximately Rs 116.84 crore, shown as active assets in the records handed over during the project’s closure, were not reflected in the bank statements obtained from IDFC First Bank on February 24, 2026. A day later, on February 25, the bank’s regional and cluster heads met senior officials of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, and conveyed that the bank statement dated April 22, 2025, along with FDRs amounting to Rs 1,16,84,01,664.37, “appeared to be fake and fraudulent”. The police added that the possible involvement of officials of the Chandigarh Smart City project is also being examined.
The case pertains to alleged financial irregularities linked to accounts of the municipal corporation and the Chandigarh Smart City project maintained with IDFC First Bank. The FIR invokes provisions related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Another accused, CREST project director Sukhwinder Singh Abrol, was earlier arrested in the case and is currently on five-day police remand. Further investigation is underway.
