Panchkula, March 25
Haryana’s State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SVACB) has registered an FIR over alleged discrepancies linked to nearly Rs 150 crore in fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) held by the Panchkula Municipal Corporation at a Kotak Mahindra Bank branch in the city.
The case was filed on Tuesday night against unnamed bank officials and others on charges including cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and criminal breach of trust, after the Haryana government referred the matter to the anti-corruption agency for investigation.
According to the FIR, the municipal corporation reported a major mismatch between its official records and the balances and records reflected by Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Sector 11 branch in Panchkula.
Panchkula Municipal Corporation Commissioner Vinay Kumar said the discrepancies were detected in FDRs involving a total amount of nearly Rs 150 crore.
The FIR states that the corporation maintained 16 fixed deposits worth more than Rs 145 crore with the bank, with a maturity value of over Rs 158 crore.
Of these, 11 FDs worth more than Rs 59 crore matured on 16 February 2026.
However, according to the FIR, a bank statement received on 16 March showed a balance of just over Rs 2.17 crore as of 13 March, against an expected balance of more than Rs 50 crore.
It further states that the bank later informed the corporation that there was no live term deposit available and that the balance in the account on 18 March stood at just over Rs 12.85 crore.
The FIR says this position was not in line with the municipal corporation’s official records, which still showed 16 FDs in the branch, and described the records as “totally mismatched”, raising “every apprehension of financial irregularities”.
It also alleges that during the verification process, two additional bank accounts were reported by the bank which did not appear in the corporation’s official records, adding to concerns over the integrity of the financial documentation.
The municipal corporation has constituted a committee to examine the matter and verify all FDRs and bank statements maintained with the branch.
The verification exercise was carried out following instructions from Haryana’s Finance Department issued in February and March.
The FIR has been registered under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including sections related to criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, as well as provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Kotak Mahindra Bank said the bank had initiated a detailed reconciliation of the fixed deposits and linked accounts on the instructions of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation.
The bank said that, based on records examined so far, all account-opening procedures, KYC documentation, authorised signatories and instructions received from the corporation were in order.
It added that the accounts and transactions had been handled in strict adherence to due process and applicable banking norms.
The investigation is expected to examine both the discrepancies in the FDR records and the issue of the additional accounts flagged during the reconciliation process.
