The Chandigarh Police Crime Branch on Saturday arrested 52-year-old Vikram Wadhwa, the key conspirator in a ₹590-crore fraud involving Haryana government departments and ₹190-crore financial irregularities linked to the UT Municipal Corporation (MC) and CREST.
Wadhwa, a prominent hotelier and real estate developer who had been evading arrest since the scam surfaced on February 22, 2026, was intercepted at a hideout in Kharar, Mohali. A team led by crime branch inspector Satwinder Singh apprehended him after tracking his movements across the tricity.
Wadhwa, originally from Malout, moved to Chandigarh in the 1990s as a guest house caretaker on a ₹1,500 salary before building a real estate empire. Police will produce him in court to seek remand to trace the complete money trail involving over 2,400 transactions.
Earlier during the investigation, the Chandigarh Police had recovered a Range Rover allegedly belonging to Wadhwa from a site in Kansal.
Embezzlement of Haryana govt funds
The investigation by the Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has found that ₹590 crore was embezzled from accounts of at least eight Haryana government departments, including the development and panchayats department and the Haryana State Pollution Control Board. The funds, meant to be parked as fixed deposits at IDFC First Bank’s Sector 32, Chandigarh, branch, were allegedly siphoned off through 12 compromised accounts.
According to officials, the scam was orchestrated by influencing department officials to move public funds into the bank. Once deposited, the money was diverted without authorisation using forged debit memos and bank statements. The bureau has already arrested 11 individuals in this connection, including bank employees Ribhav Rishi and Abhay Kumar, and a department superintendent, Naresh Kumar Bhuwani. Rishi, who resigned from IDFC First Bank in June 2025, allegedly used multiple shell firms to siphon off government funds, some of which were also transferred to accounts linked to him and his wife, Divya Arora.
Diversion through shell firms, jewellers
Investigators allege Wadhwa played a central role in layering the siphoned money. A private firm, Swastik Desh Projects Pvt Ltd, was used to initially route large sums, with nearly ₹100 crore transferred to jewellery businesses using bogus invoices to create an illusion of gold purchases.
Authorities suspect a substantial portion of the funds eventually reached real estate firms linked to Wadhwa, including Prisma Residency LLP and Kinspire Realty LLP.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which searched 19 locations across Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Gurgaon and Bengaluru this week, has frozen over 90 bank accounts. During the searches, investigators uncovered a network of shell entities and businesses suspected of facilitating the diversion and layering of funds.
