Chandigarh: CBI Thursday arrested former Panchkula municipal corporation commissioner Ram Kumar Singh in the Haryana govt funds misappropriation case, making him the first IAS officer to be arrested in the scam.Singh’s arrest has intensified the probe into the alleged siphoning of public funds from the corporation’s account maintained at Chandigarh’s Sector 32 branch of IDFC First Bank. The agency said the account was opened in violation of Haryana finance department guidelines and was used as a conduit for fraudulent transactions.The fraud involved the alleged diversion of approximately Rs 79.46 crore. Investigators claim it was part of a larger scam in which around Rs 504 crore belonging to eight Haryana govt departments was siphoned off through forged or non-existent fixed deposits and debit notes before being routed to shell entities.Ram Kumar Singh served as MC commissioner in Panchkula from July 2025 to Jan 2026.Investigators alleged Singh, in connivance with bank officials, handed over multiple signed cheques through intermediaries under the pretext of creating fixed deposits, but none were created, and the funds were instead siphoned off to shell entities allegedly controlled by bank officials.The CBI said its investigation has found that the misappropriation was carried out with the knowledge and active participation of the then municipal commissioner and the corporation’s senior accountant, who had been arrested earlier.Searches at Singh’s residences in Chandigarh and Karnal reportedly led to the recovery of several incriminating documents.The state govt had suspended Singh and another IAS officer within a fortnight of the registration of the case by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on Feb 23 before the investigation was handed over to the CBI in April.The CBI has so far secured permission from the Haryana govt to prosecute or question seven IAS officers in connection with the wider scam. The agency is examining the role of senior bureaucrats and officials involved in the management and operation of govt accounts linked to the fraud.So far, the CBI has chargesheeted 17 accused, including six officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, three Haryana govt officials, two companies and six private individuals in the wider Rs 504 crore scam.
