PACL scam: Vigilance bureau arrests former director Dharmendra Sandhu

Chandigarh, September 5

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A team of Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) on Tuesday arrested Dharmendra Singh Sandhu, one of the illegally appointed directors, in connection with Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) scam; in which around 5 crore gullible investors were defrauded of around Rs 50,000 crore by the company.

An official spokesperson of the VB said the absconding accused Dharmendra Singh Sandhu, a resident of Rama Mandi, Jalandhar, was arrested in a case registered at State Crime Police Station, SAS Nagar.

The spokesperson said an extraordinary general meeting (EOGM) of PACL was shown to be held on January 1, 2022 at PACL’s registered office in Jaipur (Rajasthan), which had closed around 7 to 8 years ago, and also appointed three new directors of PACL, Hirdaypal Singh Dhillon, Sandeep Singh Mahal and Dharmendra Singh Sandhu, on the basis of forged documents.

Notably, Sandeep Singh Mahal and CA Jaswinder Singh Dang have already been charge sheeted in the case and are in judicial custody, he added.

The spokesperson claimed that the three appointed directors issued notices under the signatures of Sandeep Singh Mahal to different persons holding/possessing assets of the PACL, without taking permission from the committee constituted by the Supreme Court under the chairmanship of justice (Retd) RM Lodha, and started extorting money from them.

Recently, the ministry of company affairs (MCA) has removed the names of Hirdaypal Singh Dhillon, Sandeep Singh Mahal and Dharmendra Singh Sandhu from the list of Directors of PACL.