Pushpinder Singh, a former deputy vice president of Kotak Mahindra Bank, funded a lavish lifestyle with money laundered from the accounts of the Panchkula municipal corporation in Haryana, buying high-end vehicles, including a Porsche, BMWs, and a Harley-Davidson, the Enforcement Directorate alleged.The ED has chargesheeted Singh along with his two colleagues at Kotak Mahindra and an employee of the Panchkula (Haryana) municipal corporation, accusing them of defrauding the Haryana government of more than ₹100 crore by allegedly diverting the civic body’s fixed deposits. The ED filed the chargesheet on July 30 before a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court.The ED said its probe revealed that Singh purchased high-end vehicles, including a Porsche Cayenne, a BMW Z4, BMW 740Li, BMW X7, BMW 749i, Jeep Wrangler (2021 and 2024 models), Land Cruiser and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle from the proceeds of the crime, the ED said in a statement issued on August 5.Realising that they had been caught, the accused sold the vehicles to third parties to avoid being implicated in the fraud. The four allegedly perpetrated a fraud to “embezzle” funds belonging to the State government department, the ED said.ED initiated a probe under PMLA after taking over an FIR filed by the Haryana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on charges of embezzlement of funds belonging to the Panchkula municipal corporation through a “deep-rooted and well-organised” criminal conspiracy.Singh, in connivance with municipal corporation official Vikas Kaushik and another Kotak Mahindra Bank employee, Dilip Raghav, opened two “unauthorised” bank accounts in the civic body’s name using “fake” documents and authorisations, the agency alleged.“All genuine communications, authorisation letters and instructions sent by the municipal corporation of Panchkula were disregarded, and a series of parallel authorisation letters were created by Singh and Kaushik, with the support of others, for the purpose of opening these two illegal accounts,” the ED said.They subsequently transferred the corporation’s funds from its genuine accounts with Kotak Mahindra Bank to these unauthorised accounts using “fake” authorisation letters created in the name of MC Panchkula.“It is learnt that Satish Kumar of Kotak Mahindra Bank was also involved in this fraud,” ED noted.Mobile numbers and email IDs linked to the two fake accounts, as well as those of the genuine accounts, were updated with mobile numbers and email IDs that were “under the effective control of” Kaushik and Singh, the agency alleged.The move, it said, was made to circumvent the checks and balances prescribed in Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the prevention of unauthorised bank transfers.This way, the entire system of checks and balances was completely compromised by the “collusive” actions of Singh and Kaushik, with the support of others, the ED alleged.The agency claimed that these funds were transferred to people and entities linked to the duo, including Singh’s wife, Preeti Thakur. Some of the funds were also used to purchase luxury watches and furniture.The ED further alleged that after the fraud was detected, Singh “deliberately” sold properties in Sector 2, Panchkula, to his sister Gunita Sethi, in a bid to conceal ownership through alleged round-tripping of funds.This was against the funds received by Gunita Sethi from a firm owned by Preeti Thakur, it alleged.“This round-tripping of funds was done with an intent to disguise the ownership of these properties for alienation from attachments under provisions of PMLA,” the ED said.Singh is also alleged to have “advanced” these funds to provide unsecured loans to individuals and some entities at the rate of 36 per cent per annum in cash.The ED pegged the total defrauded sum at ₹107.24 crore and said that it has also attached assets worth ₹131 crore in the case.Published on August 6, 2026