A massive financial irregularity in the Smart City Project has exposed shocking governance failures, with authorities discovering just ₹81.20 in a municipal account expecting ₹95.78 crore—revealing systematic fund siphoning through fake Fixed Deposit Receipts and shell companies.
Ex-CFO Nalini Malik Gets 4-Day Police Remand
Former Chief Finance Officer Nalini Malik faces custodial interrogation after court granted four days remand. Investigating agencies allege she orchestrated 11 fake FDRs totaling ₹116.84 crore with municipal officials and bankers to conceal fund movements during March 2025 CSCL-Municipal Corporation merger.
During the March 28, 2025 merger, the new bank account shockingly held only ₹81.20 against expected ₹95.78 crore project funds. Fabricated FDRs created false liquidity impressions while real money flowed through shell entities like CAPCO Fintech, R S Traders, Swastik Desh Project.
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Bank Manager Rishav Rishi Confesses Role
Former bank manager Rishav Rishi admitted generating fake FDRs during interrogation, revealing pre-planned shell company network setup. He implicated municipal corporation and Smart City officials in coordinated cash withdrawals exceeding ₹50 crore, deliberately obscuring digital trails.
Outsourced accountant Anubhav Mishra vanished since February, phone switched off. Investigators believe he holds critical documents exposing full conspiracy network across banking, municipal, and project management layers exploiting institutional transition vulnerabilities.
Diverted funds routed through multiple shell entities enabled cash withdrawals totaling over ₹50 crore among conspirators. Banking system manipulation and falsified records created legitimate transaction appearances while systematically emptying Smart City project coffers.
Multi-Level Organized Financial Heist
Preliminary findings reveal sophisticated operation exploiting merger transition gaps, weak oversight, institutional silos. More arrests anticipated as bank accounts, digital trails, asset linkages traced in widening probe exposing governance breakdown in flagship urban development initiative.
The ₹95.78 crore scandal underscores catastrophic transparency failures in government megaprojects. Robust real-time monitoring, independent audits, digitized fund flows become non-negotiable to prevent institutional loopholes enabling organized financial predation at public expense.
About the author – Rehan Khan is a law student and legal journalist with a keen interest in cybercrime, digital fraud, and emerging technology laws. He writes on the intersection of law, cybersecurity, and online safety, focusing on developments that impact individuals and institutions in India.
