Punjab told to shift Pearls group CMD back to Tihar jail from hospital

CHANDIGARH: In a major development, a special CBI court in Delhi has ordered the Punjab prison authorities to shift Pearls Group CMD Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, an accused in the Rs 45,000-crore Ponzi scam involving over five crore investors in different states, to Tihar jail.
The order was passed after the CBI informed the special court that Bhangoo was admitted to Ivy Hospital, Mohali for 1,177 days in the last four years – meaning that he stayed in this upscale Mohali hospital for more than three years on the pretext of some illness. “This is akin to making a mockery of the criminal justice system,” the CBI argued.

The special CBI court ordered the Muktsar Sahib district jail superintendent to shift Bhangoo to Delhi’s Tihar Jail within two weeks from the date of receipt of this order and send a compliance report to the CBI without fail.
Sanjeev Aggarwal, special CBI judge, passed these orders while disposing of a CBI application seeking directions to lodge accused Bhangoo in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
Ponzi scam accused malingering his sickness: CBI court
In view of the argument by CBI that this accused is malingering his sickness in connivance with the Hospital authorities and considering overall facts and circumstances, it would be in the interest of justice and fair trial taking into the account the nature of allegations and the interest of more than five crore investors that the accused Nirmal Singh Bhangoo be brought/shifted to Delhi for inquiry/trial in the present case and other cases pending in the Delhi courts,” the CBI court ordered.
Sanjeev Aggarwal, special CBI judge, passed these orders while disposing of a CBI application seeking directions to lodge accused Bhangoo in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
The CBI had informed the court that the main accused in the Ponzi scam, Bhangoo, CMD, M/s PFG Limited, was arrested on January 8, 2016, and was sent to judicial custody in Tihar jail on January 23, 2016, by Delhi’s Tis Hazari court. On June 10, 2016, Bhangoo was taken to Bathinda in Punjab on a production warrant in a cheating case.
Thereafter, despite the issuance of a production warrant, Bhangoo was not produced before the trial court in Delhi on a number of occasions, and even when he was produced a few times, he was taken back to the Bathinda jail.
According to CBI, in order to expedite the pace of investigation into the above broad aspects, interrogation, confrontation of the accused persons with other accused persons and suspects may be frequently required, which would be difficult if accused Bhangoo remains in a jail outside Delhi.
The CBI also contended that Bhangoo, the prime accused in this multi-thousand crore scam, has deep roots and influence in Punjab. There is also a reasonable apprehension that by use of his influence, he may manipulate evidence as well as manoeuvre witnesses of this case in his favour. “Thus, in the interest of justice, it is very much required that Nirmal Singh Bhangoo be brought to Delhi immediately and lodged in Tihar Jail. Bhangoo can be provided medical treatment at AIIMS or other hospitals in New Delhi, which would be definitely in a position to provide better or at least similar medical treatment in comparison to ivy Hospital at Mohali in Punjab,” the CBI submitted.