The Haryana government has dismissed former Director of Finance, Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL), Amit Dewan, for opening bank accounts with the IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank in collusion with the mastermind of the scam and allegedly receiving Rs 50 lakh in illegal gratification.The scam is worth Rs 590 crore as several accounts of Haryana government departments are involved.Dewan is the fourth officer who has been dismissed. Earlier, on April 30, Rajesh Sangwan, Controller, Finance and Accounts, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB), was dismissed for Rs 10 crore fraud in the IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank. He was alleged to be in constant touch with the co-accused and was allegedly instrumental in opening the account with the IDFC First Bank.On April 23, the Development and Panchayats Department’s Superintendent Naresh Kumar was dismissed for allegedly receiving Rs 6.55 crore and a Toyota Fortuner from the co-accused, and for allegedly buying a house in Mohali in his wife’s name. Also, Chief Accounts Officer in the education department, Randhir Singh, was dismissed on April 24 for Rs 54 crore fraud. He allegedly received illegal gratification both in the form of cash and also other favours like flight tickets for a tour from Chandigarh to Goa for himself and five other family members.All the four were dismissed without a departmental inquiry.Role of Amit DewanThe State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) had arrested Dewan on March 18. He was later suspended. He was on deputation with HPGCL since 2023. After suspension, he was sent back to Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) at the post of Chief Financial Officer.As per the dismissal order, dated May 1, HPGCL opened an account with IDFC First Bank, Sector 32, Chandigarh, on February 27, 2024, named ‘HPGCL Dry Fly Ash Fund’. On November 11, 2024, Rs 50 crore was credited to the IDFC First Bank account.It was Dewan who had allegedly forwarded the proposal for opening the account without inviting quotations from other empanelled banks and without compliance with the Finance Department instructions, dated March 13, 2018.The IDFC First Bank was not empanelled with the Haryana government at the time of opening the account. It was empanelled later on July 12, 2024.The account was opened as a Savings Account, which was to be converted into an FD as per the department letter dated March 28, 2025.The dismissal order, citing the investigations by State Vigilance, said that the FDR issued was forged and that the account statement did not reflect the entry regarding the creation of the FD. Fraudulent transactions started in the account with effect from March 20, 2025. A total of 32 transactions took place, including interest entries till March 9, 2026, out of which eight were made in a fraudulent manner without the Energy Department’s authorisation.HPGCL opened another account, namely HPGCL Pension Fund Trust, in AU Small Finance Bank, Ludhiana (later shifted to Sector 8, Panchkula) on June 2, 2025, which was allegedly approved by Amit Dewan. “There were five authorised signatories for this account and any two of them could jointly operate the account,” said the dismissal order.The State Vigilance told that the interrogation of mastermind Ribhav Rishi, who was the branch manager of IDFC First Bank and later continued the illegality at the AU Small Finance Bank, again as branch manager, and accused Abhay Kumar revealed that accounts were opened as part of a criminal conspiracy to siphon off government funds. “Interrogation of key witnesses revealed that Amit Dewan was paid illegal gratification in a substantive amount. On certain occasions, he accepted illegal gratification directly from the key accused and on some occasions through the employees hired by Ribhav Rishi. The same is corroborated on the basis of material seized as well as statements of witnesses,” said the dismissal order.It added that call records reflected that the “key accused were in constant touch with Amit Dewan during the relevant period of commission of offence and specifically, he was paid Rs 50 lakh as part of illegal gratification on January 6, 2026.”Why departmental inquiry not conducted against Amit DewanThe dismissal order said that as the case was being investigated by the CBI, “holding a parallel departmental enquiry may affect the ongoing investigation, leading to premature disclosure of evidence and provide an opportunity to the delinquent employee to align or manipulate facts in coordination with other accused, thereby prejudicing both the investigation and the departmental process…”Dewan was dismissed while invoking the proviso attached to Clause 7 (A) of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Employees (Punishment and Appeal) Regulations, 2018.Background of the caseThe State Vigilance & Anti-Corruption Bureau, Haryana, had registered the FIR in the case on February 23, and later, on April 8, the CBI registered the case. The scam involved a large-scale, multi-layered financial fraud involving the manipulation of official processes, fraudulent banking operations, and the execution of fictitious financial transactions to siphon off Haryana government funds into shell entities and accounts controlled by the accused.