New Delhi: The CBI has arrested senior Indian Forest Service officer Navneet Srivastava in connection with the alleged misappropriation of Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST) funds from an IDFC First Bank account when he was the CEO of CREST, officials said Wednesday.

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Srivastava was produced before the special judge, CBI, Chandigarh, and remanded to police custody for three days, a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

"The arrest was made after his role was revealed during the ongoing investigation in the case. Investigation revealed that funds parked in three bank accounts of CREST, maintained with IDFC First Bank at Chandigarh, were fraudulently misappropriated into various shell companies and converted for personal use by the beneficiaries, causing a loss of approximately Rs 75 crore to CREST, Chandigarh while he was at the helm of affairs," the spokesperson said.

The CBI probe found that part of the proceeds of crime were diverted into the account of a private company, in which Srivastava's wife and a close relative are the directors, according to the statement.

"It may be recalled that the then Project Director Sukhwinder Singh Abrol and Accountant Sahil Kukkar of CREST were earlier arrested in this case and have already been charge-sheeted, and they are presently in judicial custody," it said.

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The CBI had recently filed the first chargesheet in this case against 13 accused persons, including five officials of the private bank, two public servants of CREST (Chandigarh UT Administration), two shell entities along with three partners and directors thereof, and one private person.

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