The CBI told the CBI Special Court, Haryana, on Thursday that IAS officer Pankaj Agarwal functioned as a close associate of the mastermind of the Rs 657-crore bank scam, Ribhav Rishi, and allegedly received monetary and “unethical” benefits from him. It added that Agarwal’s role “has come to the fore on two separate occasions in two different departments under his charge,” where he facilitated the opening of accounts in violation of guidelines of the state Finance Department and “thereby enabling diversion of government funds”.Opposing his bail application, the CBI said Agarwal held the charge as Principal Secretary, School Education, from December 10, 2024, to June 16, 2025. Within seven days of his assuming charge, IDFC First Bank, Sector 32, Chandigarh, submitted a proposal dated December 17, 2024, for opening an account for the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP). The proposal was addressed to him, marked by him on December 19, 2024, and routed to the subordinate officer concerned. He approved the opening of an account on December 31, 2024, and sanctioned the transfer of Rs 100 crore thereto from a Kotak Mahindra Bank account.The CBI alleged that the account in the IDFC First Bank was opened in contravention of guidelines. It said “no competitive process was followed, no quotations were invited from empanelled banks, and the proposal was processed solely on the ostensible ground that IDFC was offering a higher rate of interest even without comparing the rates.”The transfer of funds also violated the investment ceiling, as against the limit of Rs 50 crore for the IDFC bank, Rs 100 crore was transferred on Agarwal’s approval.Agarwal, who was arrested on June 22, has claimed that he “never demanded or accepted any bribe” and the only role attributed to him was to give administrative approvals to the “proposals received from subordinate officers.”However, the CBI said he “pressurised subordinate staff/officers to change the notesheet, process the file favourably, which then led to opening the account at IDFC First Bank.” There were 101 fraudulent debit transactions worth Rs 182.93 crore and 33 credit transactions of Rs 132.39 crore in the account, leading to net misappropriation of Rs 50.54 crore.On June 20, 2025, Agarwal took charge as Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Though a proposal dated May 21, 2025, for opening an HSAMB account had earlier not been processed, it was revived only after his intervention. It was processed on the same day, and an account was opened in the name of the Haryana Marketing Development Fund.On January 14, 2026, Rs 10 crore was fraudulently withdrawn from HSAMB’s account using a cancelled cheque in favour of M/s SRR Planning Gurus Pvt Ltd and M/s Mannat Contractors.The CBI said Agarwal was aware that Ribhav Rishi had been removed from his position at IDFC bank, but he still remained in regular contact with him. Agarwal knew about the fraud and received “pecuniary and other advantages as quid pro quo for facilitating, and not acting against such diversions”, it claimed.