Punjab: Enforcement Directorate to probe sale of Pearls Group assets despite ban

LUDHIANA: In another development in the ongoing Rs 45,000-crore Pearls Group ponzi scam, Jalandhar-based zonal unit of the Enforcement Directorate has launched a probe against the group.
The recent chargesheet filed by a SIT of Punjab Police in a Zira court against the company owners and officials has paved way for this investigation.
TOI has reported on Friday that a special CBI court in Delhi had ordered Punjab prison authorities to shift Pearls Group CMD Nirmal Singh Bhangoo to Tihar jail in Delhi from upscale Mohali hospital.
Bhangoo had spent more than three years, out of last four, in the hospital claiming some sickness or other. Over five crore investors in different states were cheated through ponzi schemes.
When contacted On Saturday, ED officials in Jalandhar were tightlipped about the case, but sources in the agency claimed that the nod had been given by the “higher ups” to start action.
Source also revealed that as already a money laundering case had been registered against the Pearls Group by ED Delhi, the new probe to be initiated by ED Jalandhar office would primarily focus on the sale of properties amassed by the company by investors money, despite the ban imposed by the Supreme Court.
In the ongoing ED case against Bhangoo, a chargesheet has already been filed and the agency had attached several properties belonging to the group in India and abroad.