The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Wednesday, 26 August demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged financial irregularities of approximately ₹600 crore in the state government treasury system, claiming the scandal spans 59 departments and points to a fundamental breakdown in the state's financial oversight architecture.

What Congress Alleged

Former Minister and State Congress Media In-charge Mukesh Nayak, addressing a press conference in Bhopal, alleged that government funds were transferred to private bank accounts through the state treasury system. He demanded the investigation be conducted independently under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge, arguing that an internal or state-level inquiry would lack credibility given the scale of the alleged fraud.

Nayak claimed that around 400 people have already faced FIRs in connection with the irregularities, and that the number of departments under scrutiny had grown from an initial 24 to 59 — a near-doubling that, he argued, signals systemic rather than isolated misconduct.

The Financial Breakdown

According to Nayak, approximately ₹55 crore of government funds was allegedly transferred directly to private accounts, while transactions worth nearly ₹305 crore remain under suspicion. He also sought details of the state government's reported recovery of ₹220 crore out of an alleged irregularity of around ₹380 crore, questioning why full account-wise and date-wise recovery details have not been made public.

'If the government claims that ₹220 crore has been recovered, it should make public the complete date-wise, department-wise and account-wise details of the recovery and state how much money is still pending,' Nayak said.

Key Questions Raised

Nayak pressed the state government on several procedural failures: who authorised changes in bank account details within the digital payment system, who held responsibility for system passwords, and at what administrative level the alleged payments were approved. He also questioned whether prescribed budget preparation and allocation procedures were followed across the departments now under investigation.

'If these figures are correct, this is not a lapse by one office or a few employees, but points to a major systemic failure,' Nayak said.

Congress Demands Accountability at Senior Level

The party made clear it does not want accountability confined to lower-rung employees. Congress demanded that senior officials responsible for supervising the financial system — those with authority over digital access, payment approvals, and inter-departmental fund flows — also face investigation. Nayak further called for an examination of whether allegedly diverted funds were used to acquire land, housing, vehicles, or other assets.

What Happens Next

The Madhya Pradesh state government has not yet publicly responded to the specific allegations raised at Wednesday's press conference. With the Congress pressing for Supreme Court-supervised oversight and CBI jurisdiction, the political pressure on the ruling dispensation in Bhopal is likely to intensify. Whether the Centre agrees to hand the matter to the CBI — which requires state or court direction — remains the critical next step.