CBI today carried out searches at the offices of real estate-cum-chit fund companies Pearls Golden Forest and PACL after registering cases against them for allegedly duping investors through their ponzi scheme by promising agriculture land to the depositors.
CBI sources said the agency had carried out an inquiry, on the orders of the Supreme Court, into allegations that the companies had collected crores of rupees through deposits from public at large through their ponzi scheme promising land.
In Ponzi schemes, returns are given to investors from the money collected from other depositors in a pyramid-like structure.
After the inquiry, the agency claimed to have found enough prima-facie material to register a case for alleged criminal conspiracy and cheating against the directors of the company and their associates.
The agency carried out searches at their offices of PGF and PACL at their offices in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Mohali, Ropar and Jaipur.
"The search operaton has led to seizure of huge records and data relating to deposits from public and their mis-utilisation and diversion of funds," CBI spokesperson said here in a statement.
The company did not respond to emails seeking their reaction to the development. The phone calls made to their headquarters at Gopaldas Building here went unanswered.
