Rs 116-cr scam: Chandigarh cops probe role of MC, bank officials
Police prepare list of officials posted during suspected transactions; multiple accounts under scrutiny
As the city police started probing the alleged scam of over Rs 116 crore that surfaced in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the role of several officers working in Chandigarh Smart City Ltd (CSCL), the MC and IDFC First Bank has come under the scanner.
The internal inquiry of the MC conducted so far has revealed large-scale fudging and discrepancies in the records submitted to the MC related to the Rs 116 crore amount deposited in IDFC First Bank.
The police have started preparing a list of officials of the CSCL and the MC who were posted at the time the suspected transactions were made. The MC authorities have also not ruled out involvement of certain officials in the case.
The police have sought information from the bank regarding further transactions of the amount. They suspect that the amount was transferred to multiple accounts by the accused.
The FIR against the MC employee and bank officer has been registered on the complaint of the MC’s accounts officer, who reported over Rs 116 crore in suspected financial transactions and mismanagement in various bank accounts of the CSCL and the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, in the IDFC First Bank branch situated in Sector 32.
After a similar scam came to light in Haryana involving IDFC First Bank, MCC officials approached the bank’s Sector 32 branch requesting encashment of FDRs worth over Rs 116 crore, which were prepared from the amount shifted at the time of closure of the CSCL.
The CSCL was closed in March 2025 and the assets, records and financial matters were transferred to the MC. The CSCL had maintained multiple bank accounts.
The inquiry revealed that the bank informed the civic body last month that the FDRs were not appearing in its system and were found to be fake. These FDRs were reportedly issued by Rishab Rishi, the then manager of the Sector 32 branch, during March-April 2025.
The internal inquiry also revealed that Anubhav Mishra, who was working as an accountant on an outsourced basis, was the custodian of the FDRs.
Surprisingly, for one year no one in the accounts department came to know that the FDRs were fake. The inquiry says the bank account statements provided at the time of handing over and taking over the charge in March-April 2025 by smart city officials completely mismatched with the original bank account statement obtained on February 24, 2026.
Many debit and credit entries in the statement provided by the bank are suspected and appear to be fake. The FDs amounting to Rs 116.84 crore, which were shown as active assets in the handed‑over records, do not exist in the bank statement obtained from the bank.
On the other hand, Amit Kumar, Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, said an internal inquiry into the whole matter was presently underway. Once the report was received, the MC would prepare standard operating procedures (SOPs) to handle transactions with banks. These SOPs would be followed by all departments while dealing with bank‑related matters. He also claimed that the MC had received the entire amount from the bank with interest.
