VB to probe multi-crore Pearls Group ponzi scam
Firm cheated over 5 crore people across the country, including thousands of investors from Punjab, on pretext of investing money in various schemes
CHANDIGARH : The Punjab government has transferred the investigation into the multicrore Pearls Group chit fund scam to the state vigilance bureau (VB).
The Pearls Group had allegedly cheated over 5 crore people across the country, including thousands of investors from Punjab, on the pretext of investing money in various schemes of the group.
According to the orders from the Punjab director general of police, the VB will take over the two FIRs related to the scam registered in Ferozepur in 2020 and the state crime police station, Mohali, in 2023.
The 2016, the Supreme Court appointed a committee headed by former chief justice of India RM Lodha to sell properties of the group. In 2017, the committee told the apex court that the group’s total liability was ₹80,000 crore but its properties were worth ₹7,600 crore.
The money was collected by the Nirmal Singh Bhangoo-managed group through its two companies, Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited and Pearls Golden Forest Limited, in ponzi schemes to develop agricultural land. However, the funds were diverted into real estate business.
“The Lodha Commission directed the company to return the investment made by the people. But it came to the notice of the Punjab Police that the company fraudulently sold some properties in Ferozepur and Mohali districts in connivance with the state revenue authorities. So, we will investigate the illegality into the matter,” said an official of the state vigilance bureau on the condition of anonymity.
The officer added that the VB has a dedicated economic offences wing to probe such cases. “Owing to its inter-state ramifications, the case has been transferred to the bureau to unravel the entire scam,” said the official.
In February this year, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann directed deputy commissioners to identify properties of the group. He also directed the authorities to make red entries in revenue records so no one sells or purchases this group’s property.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against the group and its officials in 2013. The central agency later arrested its chairman-cum-managing director Bhangoo and three directors of the company, who are currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail.