The CBI headquarters in New Delhi. File photo
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two persons, including a senior official of the Punjab National Bank (PNB), for their alleged involvement in a ₹183 crore forged bank guarantee submission fraud to secure multiple irrigation projects in Madhya Pradesh, the agency said on Friday (June 20, 2025).
According to a statement from the CBI, Govind Chandra Hansda, a senior manager at PNB, and Mohammed Firoz Khan were arrested from Kolkata after multiple raids at 23 locations in New Delhi, West Bengal, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh on June 19 and 20. The arrests expose an inter-state gang involved in helping companies obtain fake bank guarantees to secure government projects in various States, it said.
The CBI, as per the statement, launched an investigation into the matter after registering three separate cases on May 9, based on directions from the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The agency said that Teerth Gopicon Ltd., an Indore-based company, secured three irrigation projects in 2023 in Madhya Pradesh, worth ₹974 crore from Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Limited (MPJNL).
“To support these contracts, eight fake bank guarantees valued at ₹183.21 crores were submitted to the MPJNL,” the CBI said.
“During initial verification, [the] MPJNL received fraudulent email responses impersonating the official domain of PNB, falsely confirming the authenticity of the bank guarantees. Relying on these confirmations, [the] MPJNL awarded the three contracts to the firm,” it added.
The agency said that the two accused were produced before a local court in Kolkata and will soon be brought to Indore on transit remand.
“The investigation so far has revealed that a Kolkata-based syndicate has been systematically fabricating and circulating fake bank guarantees to secure government contracts across multiple states,” the CBI said, adding that further probe is on in the matter.
Published – June 21, 2025 06:48 am IST
