Pearls group owns 1841 acres land in Haryana, 44 properties in

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Jan 15 2016 | 7:42 PM IST
The examination of Pearls Group chief Nirmal Singh Bhangoo by CBI has revealed that he owned a whopping 1841 acres of land in Haryana and properties worth thousands of crores of rupees that he managed to mobilise by allegedly running ponzi scheme.
CBI sources said the agency has found that the company and its sister concerns have held 1841 acres of land in various districts of Haryana, besides 44 commercial properties in Gurgaon. They said out of 44 commercial properties in Gurgaon, 14 are located in Global Foyer, the first luxury mall in the millennium city.
The sources said these 44 commercial properties were purchased at a cost of Rs 92.5 crore, according to the sale deeds examined by the agency. The value of these properties must have gone up many folds, they said.
They said the land bank of 1,841 acres is held by Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) and its sister concerns in Gurgaon, Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Mewat, Panipat, Panchkula, Rewari and Sirsa.
The investigations into the assets held by PACL and PGF which were allegedly running ponzi scheme and collected over Rs 45,000 crore from five crore investors have also shown that the company had owned 66 commercial spaces in the posh Connaught Place area in the national capital, they said.
Bhangoo, along with PACL MD and Promoter-Director Sukhdev Singh, Executive Director (Finance) Gurmeet Singh and Executive Director Subrata Bhattacharya, is in CBI custody in connection with alleged swindling of funds in ponzi schemes.
The land bank owned by the company here alone was about 532 acres, they claimed. The emails seeking reaction of the company were not responded to.
During the probe against the group in the last two years, CBI has found 1,300 "suspect" bank accounts of the company, its directors and associated firms, they said, adding the agency has frozen assets (mostly Fixed Deposit receipts) to the tune of Rs 280 crore. In addition, Rs 108 crore has been deposited with Delhi High Court.
The sources said the agency has seized 20,000 property documents showing investments to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore.
They said the group had interest in cricket and Kabaddi leagues. It was the main sponsor of one of the leading teams playing in a cricket league in the country. The group, which has interests in Australia, had hired a well-known Aussie pace bowler as its brand ambassador.
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First Published: Jan 15 2016 | 7:42 PM IST

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