Chandigarh, April 2 -- Three days after the arrest of CREST project director Sukhwinder Singh Abrol in the Rs.83-crore fraud case, the Chandigarh Police on Wednesday arrested an accountant, Sahil Kukkar, as the probe into the alleged siphoning of funds gained pace. A resident of Sector 78, Mohali, and originally hailing from Fazilka, Punjab, Kukkar joined the investigation on Tuesday. But during interrogation, he failed to clarify or justify multiple transactions amounting to crores that were funnelled into shell firms in connivance with Abrol, leading to his arrest. Kukkar was produced before a local court and remanded to three-day police custody. Abrol, who was arrested on March 30, remains in five-day remand. Investigators said Kukkar acted in connivance with Abrol, bank officials and others in diverting funds from CREST accounts into shell companies. He allegedly received a commission of Rs.10 lakh per transaction for facilitating the transfers. The case pertains to alleged financial irregularities worth Rs.83 crore in bank accounts of the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST) maintained at IDFC First Bank, Sector 32. The probe was initiated following a complaint by the society's CEO, who flagged suspicious and unauthorised transactions. Police said Kukkar's role emerged during the ongoing investigation into the network of shell firms allegedly used to route Rs.10.33 crore of the pilfered funds into the private bank accounts of Abrol and his family members. These firms - including CAPCO Fintech, RS Traders and Swastik Desh Project - were purportedly created in collusion with Nalini Malik, CAO, Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL); Narender Pal Sharma, chief executive manager of CSCL, and Sukhwinder Abrol of CREST. So far, apart from Kukkar, five persons - including Abrol, realtor Vikram Wadhwa, bank officials Ribhav Rishi, Abhay Kumar and Seema Dhiman - have been arrested in the case....