Suspended Haryana-cadre IAS officer Pardeep Kumar, who is on the run after CBI chasing to arrest him, has sought anticipatory bail in the IDFC bank investment fraud case.
Kumar has claimed that he had strictly followed all Finance Department guidelines, any irregular deposits, which happened were made on oral instructions of then state pollution control board Chairman Vineet Garg, who is himself under the CBI scanner.
The CBI case, involving the alleged multi-crore fraud has seen arrest of two senior Haryana IAS officers — Ram Kumar Singh and Pankaj Aggarwal.
What is there in petition?
Pardeep Kumar, who was then serving as Member Secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, Panchkula, from 31 August 2022 to 10 December 2024, had initiated a proposal to invest Rs 143.87 crore of the HSPCB surplus funds. As per the Finance department rule, he proposed investing Rs 50 crore in IDFC First Bank, Rs 71.93 crore in HARCO Bank and Rs 21.94 crore in Sarva Haryana Gramin Bank, all within prescribed policy limits.
The petition states that the role of Vineet Garg came into play as the 1991-batch IAS approved the proposal with the note “as proposed.”
Oral directions from Garg to deposit in IDFC First bank
The petition states that on five subsequent dates—27 March, 1 July, 30 July, 1 October and 23 October 2025—further investments were made in IDFC First Bank on Garg's “oral instructions,” by which time the prescribed Rs 50 crore ceiling for a first-time empanelled bank had already been exhausted.
On the October 23 occasion, Garg personally enhanced the proposed investment in IDFC First Bank from Rs 25 crore to Rs 50 crore, the petition states, even though another empanelled bank had quoted a higher rate of return, Kumar has claimed.
The petition states that Garg, upon taking charge as Chairman on 2 December 2024, had directed that FDR investment files be shifted from the e-file system to physical files, a directive implemented from 25 March 2025. It was also on Garg's subsequent directions that a bank account was opened with IDFC First Bank's Sector 32, Chandigarh branch, the petition says.
Pardeep Kumar left the department on 10 December 2025 upon his transfer to the State Transport as its Director. The petition points out that even after his departure, a proposal moved by his successor, IAS officer Yogesh Kumar, was revised by Garg on his own authority, underlining, the petition argues, that the pattern of decision-making favourable to IDFC First Bank was driven by the Chairman and not by the Member Secretary.
CBI jotting the dots
Once the CBI registered an FIR, the state government suspended Ram Kumar Singh and Pardeep Kumar, while other IAS officers under the scanner were divested of their important departments. Vineet Garg was also moved out of his position as the Chairman, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, to the Printing and Stationery Department as an additional chief secretary on 9 April.
The CBI is investigating the estimated public exchequer loot of Over Rs 600 crore across eight state government departments as the investigation widened.
Vivek Shukla is a management graduate who has worked in corporate worked for 20 years and is now pursuing his passion — news.
