Chandigarh, March 11: An alleged scam totaling more than Rs 116 crore has surfaced in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, prompting the registration of a criminal case by the local police. The discrepancy was identified when the civic body attempted to encash fixed deposits following the closure of the Chandigarh Smart City Limited project.
According to the complaint filed by the MC’s accounts department, bank statements provided during the handing over of charges in early 2025 did not match the original records obtained from the bank recently. The investigation revealed that the FDRs, which were supposed to safeguard the surplus funds of the Smart City project, were not appearing in the bank’s system. Authorities stated that these documents were likely forged at the branch level.
Commissioner Amit Kumar declared that the Municipal Corporation has secured the principal amount and the accrued interest from the bank. He asserted that a thorough review of the accounts department’s functioning is being conducted to understand how the fake receipts remained undetected. He maintained that the implementation of new, rigorous protocols for handling public money remains a top priority for the administration.
The Chandigarh Police are currently examining the timeline of transactions made between March 2025 and early 2026. Investigators affirmed that a list of officials posted during the period of the suspected transactions is being prepared for questioning. The role of an outsourced accountant, who has reportedly been absent from duty since the discrepancies were flagged, is a primary focus of the ongoing criminal probe.
