- By Shibra Arshad
- Sun, 15 Mar 2026 08:36 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
The key accused in connection with the Rs 590 crore fraud at the IDFC First Bank, involving multiple Haryana government departments, was arrested by the Chandigarh police Crime Branch on Saturday. Besides the IDFC First Bank fraud, the hotelier and realtor, Vikram Wadhwa, has been held in another case of Rs 190 crore fraud at the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST).
Wadhwa was arrested from a hideout in Kharar, Mohali district, after a long search by the probe team since the fraud surfaced.
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What Is The Rs 590 Cr IDFC Fraud
The case came to light after a few of Haryana government departments requested the closure of the bank accounts and transfer of money to other accounts. During the procedure, it was observed that the amount mentioned in the documents and the available amount in accounts had a huge gap. As per the Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Rs 590 Crore was siphoned off from at least eight government bank accounts to a private firm. The money, which was meant to be parked as fixed deposits at the IDFC First Bank branch in Sector 32, Chandigarh, was allegedly diverted through 12 compromised accounts.
Those involved in orchestrating the fraud included bank employees and outsiders. First, government employees were persuaded to deposit public money in the branch, and later the amount was siphoned off using forged debit memos and fabricated bank documents.
The hotelier and realtor, who came to Chandigarh for a hotel’s caretaker job at a salary of Rs 1500 in the 1990s, entered the world of real estate in the coming years and accumulated huge assets. Vikram Wadhwa disclosed that he had known the father of the branch’s former manager, Ribhav Rishi. Ribhav’s father introduced Wadhwa to his son, and later, they orchestrated the huge financial fraud. Ribhav, along with another employee, resigned from his job and later diverted the amount from government accounts to a private firm.
A sum of Rs 300 cr was funnelled into a company called Swastik Desh Projects. While Ribhav’s wife, Swati, holds a 75 per cent stake in the company, the remaining 25 per cent belongs to Abhay. Abhay is another bank employee who left his job at the bank branch to carry out the fraud.