The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), whish is probing into the biggest-ever Ponzi scam, has found that the Pearls Group owned over 800 acres of land near Bangalore and several properties at other locations.
Two years after registering a case into the Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) scam, the CBI on January 9 arrested Pearls Group CMD Nirmal Singh Bhangoo along with three others in connection with the alleged swindling of Rs 47,000 crore.
Sources in CBI said the agency has found 800 acres of land in Jangam Gotte, 55 km from Bangalore. “The PACL wanted to use this land , which is currently an agriculture land, to develop Pearls Group township. The agency has got all papers and is in the process of verifying the documents,” said the official.
The CBI has also unearthed two hotels owned by the PACL in Goa. “The agency has found two hotels – Golden Palms at Calangute and Golden Palms (Spa) at Colva. These hotels were owned by PACL,” said the official.
CBI sources added that the group also owns over 37 residential and commercial properties in Haryana and all these properties were in the name of PACL. The agency has also got over 50 commercial and residential properties in Mohali, Bathinda and Amritsar.
Apart from this, the investigation has revealed that Bhangoo owned a whopping 1,841 acres in Haryana and real estate properties worth thousands of crores of rupees that he managed to mobilise through investors’ money.
The probe unearthed the land bank of 1,841 acres, which is held by PACL and its sister concerns in Gurgaon, Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Mewat, Panipat, Panchkula, Rewari and Sirsa. Of this, 326 acres is located in Panchkula, while 342 acres is in Gurgaon alone.
The investigations into the assets held by PACL and PGF have also shown that the company owned 66 commercial spaces in the posh Connaught Place area of the national Capital.