Panchkula, June 20 -- A local court on Friday sent suspended Haryana IAS officer and former Panchkula municipal commissioner Ram Kumar Singh to three days of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody in connection with the alleged misappropriation of Rs.79 crore from the civic body's account at IDFC First Bank's Sector 32 branch in Chandigarh. The embezzlement is a part of a larger scam at the Sector 32 IDFC branch, in which funds to the tune of Rs.504 crore belonging to Haryana government departments were siphoned off through forged, non-existent fixed deposits, debit notes and routed to shell entities. The CBI, seeking Singh's custodial interrogation, submitted before the court that he was not cooperating with theinvestigation. The agency informed the court that while Singh had handed over his mobile phone used during the period when the offence was committed, the data had been wiped off. "Upon seizure of the said mobile phone, the original communications were found to be missing or deleted, and the accused has failed to furnish any explanation or assistance in retrieving the same, disclosing a deliberate attempt to suppress, destroy or conceal material evidence,'' the CBI said. Opposing the remand application, advocate DS Chawla, appearing for Singh, contended that his client had fully cooperated with the investigation. He argued that Singh had appeared before the agency on all four occasions when he was summoned and had joined the investigation each time. Chawla further submitted that the case was based entirely on documentary evidence and that there was no loss to the state exchequer, as the fixed deposits were prematurely withdrawn from the bank on January 16 and the account was closed much before theregistration of the FIR on February 23. He also argued that the bank was not providing satisfactory services and maintained that Singh was not a beneficiary of any alleged diversion of funds. The court also granted three days' custody of Prince Sharma, a former superintendent in Haryana development and panchayats department. Sharma was arrested at the CBI office in Chandigarh on June 18 night. While seeking the custody of the IAS officer, the CBI said that investigations have revealed and there is digital evidence that Singh received illegal gratification as a quid pro quo for participating in the conspiracy to misappropriate public funds. "As commissioner of the Panchkula MC and Kalka municipal council, Singh, in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy with co-accused including former IDFC First Bank employees Ribhav Rishi, Abhay Kumar and dismissed Haryana development and panchayat department official, Naresh Kumar, accorded approval for opening of a new bank account at IDFC First Bank, Sector-32, Chandigarh, and for the transfer of funds exceeding Rs.100 crore from the account of Panchkula MC, in clear violation of the extant guidelines of the finance department,'' the CBI said in its application. The federal agency said Singh as commissioner, Panchkula MC issued cheques to the co-accused with full knowledge that the same would not be used for creation of fixed deposits but for misappropriation. "Even after discrepancies between the dates of creation of fixed deposits and the corresponding debit entries were brought to his notice by his own office, he proceeded to issue further cheques to the co-accused instead of inquiring into the matter, of which one cheque was used for further misappropriation and three cheques bearing his signatures remain missing," the CBI told the court. The CBI told the court that Sharma caused his mobile number to be registered in the account opening forms of MC Panchkula and of the development and panchayats department pertaining to the Mukhyamantri Awas Yojna. "He was neither part of the team handling scheme nor panchayat nor was he posted in Panchkula MC. The insertion of his number was part of the conspiracy to keep the department in the dark about the fraudulent transactions and the confirmation calls relating thereto. He was fully aware of the fraudulent transactions taking place in the said accounts, attended the confirmation calls relating to those transactions along with his co-conspirators and on multiple occasions handed over his SIM card to other members of theconspiracy," the agency told the court. The CBI told the court the custodial interrogation of Singh was necessary and indispensable as he had exchanged incriminating communications with the co-accused through his mobile phone which are directly relevant to the criminal conspiracy....