Chandigarh's Municipal Corporation had ₹116.84 crore in fake fixed deposits for nearly a year. They only found out because a newspaper reported a similar fraud at the same bank in Haryana, and someone thought, "wait, should we check ours too?"
In what may be the most accidentally discovered fraud in Indian municipal history, Chandigarh's Smart City project lost ₹116.84 crore to 11 fake fixed deposit receipts created by IDFC First Bank branch manager Rishab Rishi — and nobody noticed for nearly a year. The scam surfaced in February 2026 only because newspaper reports about a separate ₹550 crore fraud in Haryana government accounts at the same bank prompted an MCC official to cross-check Chandigarh's deposits. On February 24, the bank confirmed the FDRs "simply did not exist in the bank's system." The money had been routed through shell companies named CAPCO Fintech, RS Traders, and Swastik Desh Project — names that somehow didn't raise any flags. CFO Nalini Malik was arrested on April 2 alongside outsourced accountant Anubhav Mishra, who allegedly operated as an inside man. The bank quietly refunded ₹121 crore the very next day, which is either admirable speed or the financial equivalent of quietly putting something back on the shelf before anyone notices.