In the Rs 590 crore bank scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has told the CBI Special Court, Haryana, that accused Swati Singla and her brother, Abhishek Singla, had received Rs 292 crore from funds of Haryana government departments’ accounts parked in the IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.The Singla siblings were proprietors of the Swastik Desh Project firm, which received the amount. The money was further sent to various entities and individuals.The CBI had registered the FIR on April 8 against “unknown” accused, based on the original FIR lodged by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) on February 23. According to the FIR, the case involves offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, fraudulent or dishonest use of forged documents, and criminal breach of trust under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.The CBI Special Court on April 17 granted the CBI three-day custody of six accused: Ribhav Rishi, Abhay Kumar, Swati Singla, Abhishek Singla, Manish Jindal, and Naresh Kumar.The CBI told the court that Ribhav Rishi was the mastermind of the scam. He was a bank manager at IDFC First Bank, Sector 32, Chandigarh. Most of the fraudulent transactions at IDFC First Bank occurred during his tenure, and when he moved to AU Small Finance Bank, he continued the illegalities, the CBI added.Regarding Swati Singla’s husband, Abhay Kumar, the CBI told the court that he was a Relationship Manager at AU Small Finance Bank and is a key accused, as during his tenure, government accounts were opened at IDFC First Bank.The CBI stated that the accused Manish Jindal and Naresh Kumar had acted as middlemen in opening accounts with various government departments. They assisted the accused, Ribhav Rishi and Abhay Kumar, received cash from them, and shared the illegal gratification with public servants, the CBI added.The CBI submitted that these six accused are believed to “possess crucial information pertinent to “exposing the broader conspiracy orchestrating the opening of new accounts, transfer of funds from other accounts to accounts maintained with IDFC First and AU Small Finance banks, manipulation of bank records, creating fake and forged documents, and siphoning off the government funds to shell companies.”The CBI Special Judge Rajeev Goyal observed that defence counsels Amit Dudeja, Yavneet Dhakla, Deepanshu Bansal, and Krishan Kumar Sharma “termed all these allegations as false but looking to the material available on the record and evidence which so far has surfaced, I am of the considered opinion that all these matters” require “a proper probe and for that purpose, prayer made by CBI for grant of police custody of the accused persons seems justified.”While allowing the CBI custody, the court also allowed the accused to meet their advocates for 30 minutes during their interrogation.