Inder Vasishth,
New Delhi: CBI has arrested Punjab National Bank senior managers Govind Chandra Hansda and Mohammad Firoz Khan in the Rs 183 crore fake bank guarantee scam.
According to the CBI, following the directions of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, the CBI registered three separate cases on 9 May 2025. These cases are related to a major financial fraud related to the submission of fake bank guarantees of Rs 183.21 crore to Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Limited (MPJNL) by Indore-based private company M/s Tirth Gopicon Limited.
This company secured three irrigation projects (contracts) worth Rs 974 crore in Madhya Pradesh from MPJNL in 2023. Eight fake bank guarantees worth Rs 183.21 crore were submitted to support these contracts.
During the initial verification, MPJNL received fraudulent email responses impersonating the official domain of Punjab National Bank (PNB), falsely confirming the authenticity of the bank guarantee. Relying on these confirmations, MPJNL awarded three contracts to the firm, worth over Rs 974 crore.
In this case, CBI conducted a massive operation on 19th and 20th June 2025, in which searches were conducted at 23 locations in five States i.e. New Delhi, West Bengal, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, resulting in the arrest of Govind Chandra Hansda and Mohd Feroz Khan, Senior Managers of Punjab National Bank from Kolkata was arrested.
Investigation so far by the CBI has revealed that a Kolkata-based syndicate was systematically creating and circulating fake bank guarantees to secure government contracts in several states.