The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has made a major breakthrough in the ₹75 crore CREST fraud case by arresting former Chief Executive Officer Navneet Kumar Srivastava, a senior Indian Forest Service officer. According to CBI officials, Srivastava was suspended by the Centre on the recommendation of Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria before his arrest. The arrest marks the first action against a senior Chandigarh Administration officer in the case and comes amid the CBI's widening probe into what investigators believe is part of a larger network behind multi-crore frauds involving Chandigarh and Haryana government funds routed through the same bank branch. Srivastava was produced before the Special CBI Court in Chandigarh, which remanded him to three days of CBI custody for further interrogation.
Investigation revealed that funds parked in three CREST bank accounts maintained with IDFC First Bank's Sector 32 branch were fraudulently siphoned into various shell companies and subsequently converted for personal use of beneficiaries. The CBI probe found that forged bank statements were allegedly sent from official email IDs of bank officials to conceal the fraud for an extended period. The CREST fraud was unearthed after reconciliation of bank accounts revealed around 300 unauthorised transactions. The case forms part of the larger IDFC First Bank scandal that also includes the ₹117 crore Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL)-Municipal Corporation fraud and the ₹550 crore Haryana government funds scam. The investigation has further revealed that a portion of the suspected proceeds was transferred to a private company where Srivastava's wife and a close relative reportedly serve as directors. The probe further revealed a principal shortfall of ₹75.16 crore and an additional interest loss of ₹7.88 crore, taking the total loss to ₹83.04 crore during the period when Srivastava was heading the organisation.
According to the CBI statement, the then Project Director Sukhwinder Singh Abrol and Accountant Sahil Kukkar of CREST were earlier arrested in this case and have already been charge-sheeted, and they are presently in judicial custody. The CBI had recently filed the first chargesheet in this case against 13 accused persons, including five officials of IDFC First Bank, two public servants associated with CREST, two shell entities along with three of their partners/directors, and one private individual. All the charge-sheeted accused are presently in judicial custody, with the arrest coming just a day after a Chandigarh court granted default bail to businessman Vikram Wadhwa in the Chandigarh Smart City case on technical grounds, though he remains in jail due to judicial custody in the CREST fraud case and Haryana government funds scam.
