A CBI Special Court in Haryana on Thursday dismissed the bail application of suspended IAS officer Pankaj Agarwal in the Rs 657 crore bank scam.Agarwal, a 2000-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, has been in police and judicial custody since June 22. Before the court, he maintained that he had “never demanded or accepted any bribe from anyone” and argued that his only role was to grant administrative approvals to proposals submitted by subordinate officers regarding the opening of bank accounts. He claimed there was no evidence against him.However, the CBI opposed his plea, alleging that Agarwal acted as a close associate of the alleged mastermind of the scam, Ribhav Rishi, and received monetary and “unethical” benefits from him. Rishi was the branch manager at the IDFC First Bank branch where the alleged scam took place.The agency further alleged 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 bank accounts in violation of the Finance Department’s guidelines, “thereby enabling diversion of Government funds.”Opposing the bail application, the CBI detailed the sequence of events. Agarwal served as Principal Secretary, School Education, from December 10, 2024, to June 16, 2025. Within seven days of assuming charge, IDFC First Bank, Sector-32, Chandigarh, submitted a proposal dated December 17, 2024, to open a bank account for the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP).The proposal, addressed to Agarwal, was marked by him on December 19, 2024, and forwarded to the concerned subordinate officer. He approved the opening of the account on December 31, 2024, and sanctioned the transfer of Rs 100 crore from an existing Kotak Mahindra Bank account.According to the CBI, the account was opened without any legitimate administrative necessity and in clear violation of the Finance Department’s guidelines. It alleged that no competitive process was followed, no quotations were invited from empanelled banks, and the proposal was processed solely on the ground that IDFC First Bank offered a higher rate of interest, without comparing rates with other banks.The transfer also allegedly violated the prescribed investment ceiling, as Rs 100 crore was transferred despite the limit for IDFC First Bank being Rs 50 crore.The CBI further alleged that Agarwal “pressurized subordinate staff/officers to change the notesheet, process the file favourably, which then led to opening the account at IDFC First Bank, Sector-32, Chandigarh.”According to the agency, there were 101 fraudulent debit transactions worth Rs 182.93 crore and 33 fraudulent credit transactions worth Rs 132.39 crore in the account, resulting in a net misappropriation of Rs 50.54 crore.On June 20, 2025, Agarwal took charge as Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The CBI alleged that, as Chairman of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB), he again intervened in favour of the same IDFC First Bank branch for opening another account.Although a proposal dated May 21, 2025, for opening an HSAMB account had not been processed earlier, it was revived after Agarwal’s intervention on July 1, 2025. The proposal 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 office records showed no justification for opening the HSAMB account except that IDFC First Bank offered a higher rate of interest. It noted that HSAMB was already operating multiple bank accounts at the time.On January 14, 2026, Rs 10 crore was allegedly withdrawn fraudulently 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 investigation,” the CBI said.On Agarwal’s alleged association with Rishi, the CBI claimed he was aware that Rishi had been removed from his position at IDFC First Bank but remained in close and regular personal contact with him.The agency further 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 not acting against, such diversions.”Till the filing of this report, the CBI court had not released the detailed order on Agarwal’s bail application.