The Central Bureau of Investigation (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 scam, Ribhav Rishi, and received monetary and “unethical” benefits from him.The agency added that Agarwal’s role “has come to the fore on two separate occasions in two different departments under his charge,” where he allegedly facilitated the opening of bank accounts in violation of the extant guidelines of the state’s Finance Department, “thereby enabling diversion of government funds.”Opposing his bail application, the CBI, in its reply, explained the chain of events. Agarwal held the charge of 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 a bank 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 concerned subordinate officer. He approved the opening of the bank account on December 31, 2024, and sanctioned the transfer of Rs 100 crore to it from an existing Kotak Mahindra Bank account.The CBI alleged that the account at IDFC First Bank was opened without any legitimate administrative necessity and in clear contravention of the extant Finance Department guidelines. It pointed out that “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 interest rate, even without comparing the rates.”The transfer of funds also violated the prescribed investment ceiling. Against the limit of Rs 50 crore for IDFC First Bank, Rs 100 crore was transferred with Agarwal’s approval.Agarwal, who was arrested on June 22 and has been under suspension since then, has claimed innocence in his bail application. He stated that he “has never demanded or accepted any bribe from anyone” and that the only role attributed to him was granting administrative approvals to the “proposals received from subordinate officers.” He claimed there was no evidence against him.However, the CBI countered that he “pressured subordinate staff/officers to change the notesheet and process the file favourably, which then led to the opening of the account at IDFC First Bank, Sector-32, Chandigarh.” There were 101 fraudulent debit transactions worth Rs 182.93 crore and 33 fraudulent credit transactions worth Rs 132.39 crore in the account, leading to a net misappropriation of Rs 50.54 crore.‘Agarwal had a close association with mastermind Ribhav Rishi’On June 20, 2025, Agarwal took charge as Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. As Chairman of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB), he again intervened in favour of IDFC First Bank, Sector-32, Chandigarh, for the opening of another account, the CBI alleged.Although a proposal dated May 21, 2025, for opening an HSAMB account had earlier not been processed, it was revived only after Agarwal’s intervention on July 1, 2025. It was processed the same day, and an account was opened on July 10, 2025, in the name of the Haryana Marketing Development Fund.The CBI claimed that office records showed no justification for opening the HSAMB account except a reference to IDFC First Bank offering a higher interest rate. HSAMB was already operating multiple bank accounts at the time. On January 14, 2026, an amount of Rs 10 crore was fraudulently withdrawn from the HSAMB account using a cancelled cheque in favour of M/s SRR Planning Gurus Pvt Ltd and M/s Mannat Contractors.“Evidence of prior communication between the applicant (IAS officer Pankaj Agarwal) and co-accused Ribhav Rishi in relation to this very transaction has emerged during the investigation,” the CBI said.Regarding his relationship with the alleged mastermind of the scam, Ribhav Rishi, the CBI said Agarwal was aware that Rishi had, in fact, been removed from his position at IDFC First Bank, yet remained in close and regular personal contact with him.The CBI alleged that Agarwal was fully aware of the conspiracy to divert Haryana government funds through fraudulent debit transactions and repeatedly received “pecuniary and other advantages” as quid pro quo for facilitating, and failing to act against, such diversions.