Panchkula, July 24 -- A local court on Wednesday dismissed the regular bail application of former municipal corporation (MC) senior accounts officer Vikas Kaushik, observing that he played a central role in the alleged multi-crore diversion of public funds and that his release at this stage could hamper the ongoing investigation. The court of additional sessions judge rejected Kaushik's second regular bail plea filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The first bail application had been withdrawn on May 1 this year. The case pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the accounts of the Panchkula MC. According to the prosecution, discrepancies were found between the corporation's records and those maintained by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sector 11, involving 16 fixed deposit (FD) receipts. The investigation allegedly uncovered two unauthorised bank accounts in the name of the MC that were not reflected in official records, leading to allegations of forgery, cheating, criminal breach of trust, corruption and diversion of public funds. The prosecution alleged that Kaushik, while serving as section officer (additional charge) and later senior accounts officer, facilitated the opening and operation of the unauthorised accounts using forged documents and signatures. It claimed that forged fund transfer letters were used to prematurely encash FDRs and divert around Rs.211 crore into illegal accounts. "Overall, about Rs.338.27 crore was allegedly routed through unauthorised banking channels, of which Rs.234.12 crore was restored and nearly Rs.10 crore was later deposited back, while about Rs.94.39 crore remains unrecovered," the prosecution alleged. During the hearing, the defence argued that Kaushik has an unblemished service record of nearly two decades, no criminal antecedents, no direct recovery had been made from him and the investigation against him was substantially complete. Rejecting these submissions, the court observed that the absence of previous criminal antecedents or direct recovery could not outweigh the prosecution's allegations.htc...