Rs.232 Crore Fraud in Airports Authority of India (AAI), Senior Manager arrested by CBI

A big fraud has been reported at Airports Authority of India (AAI). The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a Senior Manager of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for allegedly embezzling around ₹232 crore of public money.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Rahul Vijay, a Senior Manager at the Airports Authority of India (AAI). This is reported to be one of the biggest financial scams of the year.

AAI had filed a complaint with the CBI. It was mentioned in the complaint that – while serving at the Dehradun Airport, the officer misused his official position and carried out a large-scale fraud by manipulating both official and electronic records. He allegedly diverted funds into his personal bank accounts.

The fraud came to light after Chandrakanth P, senior AAI finance manager, lodged a complaint on Aug 8. The CBI registered the case on Aug 26 under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467, 468, 471, 477-A (forgery and falsification of accounts), and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The investigation so far has revealed that between 2019-20 and 2022-23, the accused created fake properties and inflated the value of some properties by adding extra zeros in the records, so that the fraud could escape routine checks. Using this method, about ₹232 crore was siphoned off into his personal accounts. His bank transactions show that a large portion of this money was later moved into business accounts for his personal gain.

On 28 August 2025, CBI teams carried out searches at his office and home in Jaipur. During the searches, they recovered incriminating evidence, including documents related to immovable properties and valuable securities.

Vijay was arrested from Jaipur airport and brought to Dehradun on Saturday. Vijay was manager (finance & accounts) at Dehradun airport between 2019-20 and 2022-23 when the fraud allegedly took place. Before his court appearance, the CBI took him to the airport and confronted him with records of his tenure in the presence of AAI officials.

A CBI officer said Vijay manipulated records to show “asset creation of about Rs 189 crore that never existed,” diverting the money into his personal account. On Sept 29, 2021, he recorded genuine assets worth Rs 67.9 crore for electrical works at the new terminal building. The next day, he allegedly added 17 fictitious assets worth Rs 189 crore, duplicated entries, and had the entire sum transferred to himself. He also siphoned off another Rs 43 crore by making fraudulent entries under revenue expenditure heads on multiple dates, the officer added.

The accused has now been arrested, and the investigation is ongoing. More details will be released soon.