Punjab’s biggest ponzi scam accused passes away
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ August 25,2024
Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, managing director (MD) of Punjab-based Pearl Group who stands accused of duping 6 crore investors to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore on pretext of returns from development of agricultural land, has passed away.
As per available information Nirmal singh Bhangoo died at Tihar jail, New Delhi where he was lodged.
Bhangoo, hails from Bela village in Chamkaur Sahib of Rupnagar district. Having started as a milkman, he joined an insurance company, Pearless, as an agent in the early 1980s. However, he was told to leave after being accused of huge embezzlement of funds. He then moved to SAS Nagar and opened an investment company from a booth in Phase 7. Thereafter, he worked as an agent with Golden Forest India Limited, leaving it to start his own company, Pearls Green Forest Limited, in the late 1980s. He went on to acquire a wide-ranging portfolio with business interests in infrastructure, property development, hospitals, educational institutes, insurance, media and entertainment industry in India and abroad.
From a milk seller to a landholder in Australia, Nirmal Bhangoo had transformed himself into a corporate titan. Nirmal singh bhangoo had 2 daughters and one son. A few years back he lost his son in a accident and after that his two daughters and his 2 son-in-law were looking his business in Australia.
In 2003, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and investors filed a case in the Supreme Court against Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) group, accusing it of fraudulently raising Rs 45,000 crore from 5.5 crore investors via collective investment schemes.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against the group and its officials in 2013 on the directions of Supreme Court. The central agency later in January 2016 arrested its chairman-cum-managing director Bhangoo, and three directors of the company.
In 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 Rs 80,000 crore, but its properties were worth Rs 7,600 crore.
Punjab’s biggest ponzi scam accused passes away. In February 2023, the Punjab government transferred the investigation into the Pearls Group chit-fund scam to the vigilance bureau.
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