The State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) on Wednesday arrested Pushpender Singh, the Deputy Vice-president of Kotak Mahindra Bank, in connection with the Rs 150-crore scam involving the diversion of funds from the Municipal Corporation (MC), Panchkula.Pushpender Singh surrendered to SV&ACB in the morning and was later arrested.He is the sixth person to be arrested in the case and will be produced before the court on Thursday.He, along with former Senior Accounts Officer of Municipal Corporation, Panchkula, Vikas Kaushik, allegedly fraudulently opened two accounts for the Municipal Corporation (MC), Panchkula, and transferred funds from legitimate accounts to them.Related news: Woman who received Rs 30-35 crore sent to judicial custody in Rs 150 crore Kotak Mahindra scamIn May 2020, both allegedly opened a fraudulent bank account (Account No. 2015073031) in the name of the MC, Panchkula.On the account opening form for this account, Kaushik allegedly affixed the official seals of the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Panchkula, and the Senior Accounts Officer. Furthermore, he and Pushpender Singh forged the signatures of the then Commissioner, MC Panchkula, IAS Sumedha Kataria, and the then Senior Accounts Officer, Sushil Kumar, over these seals.Subsequently, in June 2022, Kaushik and Pushpender Singh allegedly jointly opened yet another fraudulent account (Account No. 2046279112) in the name of MC Panchkula at Kotak Mahindra Bank.On the account opening form for this second account, Kaushik allegedly signed in the capacity of Senior Accounts Officer and affixed a forged seal of the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC). Over this seal, he and Manager Pushpender Singh also allegedly forged the signature of the then DMC, Deepak Sura.After allegedly fabricating fraudulent debit notes (RTGS/NEFT notes) purportedly issued by MC Panchkula, Kaushik would allegedly affix his own signature as one of the signatories, while forging the signature of the second signatory.Using these fraudulent debit notes, Pushpender Singh would allegedly transfer funds belonging to the MC from the two fraudulent bank accounts to his personal bank accounts.Subsequently, funds from these two fraudulent accounts were allegedly further transferred into the accounts of individuals such as Rajat Dahra, Swati Tomar, and others.  “Finally, Pushpender and the accused Vikas Kaushik would transfer these funds onward to various builders,” added the investigating agency.The funds were loaned to builders to earn more profit.According to SV&ACB, Dahra had received Rs 70 crore from the MC Panchkula funds.In July 2025 and February 2026, when the MC requested information regarding the status of its FDs and the balances held in its accounts, Relationship Manager (RM) at Kotak Mahindra Bank, Dilip Singh Raghav, contacted Kaushik to discuss the matter.Kaushik allegedly directed Raghav to coordinate with Pushpender and falsely verify the requested information via email. Following these instructions, they created fake bank statements and fraudulent FD advice notes, which were then sent to the Panchkula MC.During a court hearing in Panchkula on Wednesday, the SV&ACB told the judge that both Pushpender Singh and Kaushik are blaming each other for the forged documents and fake stamps used to open fraudulent accounts, and they need to be interrogated face-to-face. The court granted police custody of Kaushik for two more days.“It is these two accused individuals who hatched the entire criminal conspiracy and embezzled government funds,” submitted the investigating agency.As per the FIR in the scam, the MC was maintaining 16 FDs, amounting to Rs 145.03 crore, with a maturity value of Rs 158.02 crore, in the bank’s Sector 11 branch in Panchkula. Of the 16 FDs, 11, amounting to Rs 59.58 crore, matured on February 16. When the MC contacted the bank, officials provided statements that neither matched one another nor the MC’s records, particularly with respect to the FDs.