Chandigarh, April 11 -- The disclosure statements of the 10 accused arrested so far in the Rs.116.84-crore fake fixed deposit receipt (FDR) scam, involving the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) and IDFC First Bank has revealed that bank officials, civic staff, auditors and multiple private players had all worked in collusion to siphon off the funds meant for public welfare. Those arrested include Ribhav Rishi, the former branch manager of IDFC First Bank, Sector 32, Abhay Kumar, the bank's relationship manager, Seema Dhiman, bank authoriser, Nalini Malik, former chief finance officer (CFO) of Chandigarh Smart City Ltd, Vikram Wadhwa, realtor and alleged conduit for routing funds into real estate, and Sukhwinder Singh Abrol, the project director of Chandigarh Renewal Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST), and Sahil Kukkar (head of accounts, CREST). The MC's outsourced accountant, Anubhav Mishra, remains absconding as the probe continues. Police had also arrested Swati Singla and Abhishek Singla, who were partners of the alleged firm, Swastik Desh Project, into whose account crores were deposited from the departments of Haryana and Chandigarh. Another accused, Ankur, director of a separate shell company is also in the net. The first breakthrough in the Rs.116-crore fake FDR scam came with the arrest of realtor Vikram Wadhwa, who during interrogation revealed that former IDFC First Bank branch manager Rishi had offered him access to crores of rupees parked in government accounts for investment in real estate. He told investigators that he had known Rishi's family for several years and was introduced to him through his father, a former bank official. Wadhwa alleged that Rishi informed him that multiple government departments in Chandigarh and Haryana maintained accounts in the bank with large balances, which he personally monitored. According to Wadhwa, Rishi proposed that these funds could be diverted and invested in real estate projects without any interest burden. Wadhwa claimed he initially hesitated to receive such large funds directly, following which Rishi suggested routing the money through a network of shell companies, including Capco Fintech Services, RS Traders and Swastik Desh Projects. These entities, he alleged, were used to first receive funds from government-linked accounts and then transfer them onward for investment in property. Wadhwa also alleged that he was encouraged to approach certain government departments to shift their accounts to IDFC First Bank as part of the arrangement. Investigators believe this alleged nexus, which Wadhwa claimed began around 2023-24, formed the backbone of the scam that later surfaced when the MC discovered that fixed deposit receipts worth Rs.116.84 crore shown in records did not exist in the bank's system. Rishi, during questioning by police, maintained that the day-to-day handling of the MC and Smart City accounts was done by the relationship manager Kumar while Mishra, an outsourced accountant on behalf of the MC, controlled transactions and records from the civic body's side. In a key disclosure, Rishi alleged that blank FDR receipt forms were taken from a bank teller by Mishra, and these were later used to fabricate fake FDRs and forged bank statements. He claimed that this fabrication was carried out in connivance between Mishra and Kumar, suggesting that the execution of the fraud was handled at the operational level. Rishi also brought an audit angle into the investigation. He told police that branch audits were conducted every three months, including during his tenure, but alleged that these audits were "managed". In a controversial claim, he said he had arranged installation of solar systems at the residences of auditors, with payments made from his personal accounts to a CREST-linked official. The investigation has also led to the arrest of Nalini Malik, former chief finance officer (CFO) of Chandigarh Smart City Ltd. Malik was part of the core team responsible for handling financial records when CSCL was merged with the MC on March 28, 2025. This phase is now seen as crucial to the execution of the fraud, as large sums of public money were being transferred and accounted for. Police told the court that Malik, along with other officials, allegedly received more than Rs.50 crore cash from siphoned funds. Investigators have claimed that she was aware of the diversion of money into shell companies and that her mobile number was linked to a key bank account used in the transactions, indicating control over financial operations. In a parallel but connected development, the police have also arrested Sukhwinder Singh Abrol, project director of the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST), in a related Rs.83-crore fraud case. During the course of the investigation, police found that money siphoned from CREST-linked bank accounts was diverted through a network of shell companies and eventually traced to accounts linked to Abrol, his family members and close associates. Sahil Kukkar, head of the accounts department at CREST played a central role in siphoning off crores from CREST-linked accounts. Investigators claim Kukkar was instrumental in executing financial transactions that routed funds to shell companies, working in close coordination with project director Abrol, bank officials and other accused. Police have alleged that he received illegal commissions of around Rs.10 lakh per transaction. During interrogation, Kukkar reportedly failed to provide satisfactory explanations for several high-value transactions linked to CAPCO Fintech Services, which investigators believe were carried out with malafide intent as part of the larger conspiracy. The scam came to light when MC officials attempted to encash fixed deposits shown in records after the Smart City entity was merged with the civic body on March 28, 2025. While official records reflected FDRs worth Rs.116.84 crore, verification with the bank revealed that these deposits did not exist. Further scrutiny showed that only Rs.81.2 remained in an account that was supposed to hold nearly Rs.95.78 crore. Investigators have since found that as many as 11 FDRs were allegedly forged using blank receipt forms, creating the illusion that public funds had been safely parked in fixed deposits. In reality, the money had already been siphoned off through a complex web of transactions involving shell entities. These firms were reportedly opened in the names of relatives, drivers and associates of the accused, enabling the layering and diversion of funds without immediate detection....