Vigilance Bureau to probe Pearl land scam
Chandigarh, May 21
The government has handed over the investigation of the Pearl Group land illegal sale fraud to the Vigilance Bureau. The bureau will take over FIRs registered in Ferozepur and Mohali for the sale of several attached properties related to the Pearl chit fund scam.
The government order stated: “The investigations of FIRs registered in connection with the Pearl scam in Ferozepur and State Crime Police Station, SAS Nagar have been transferred to the Vigilance Bureau with immediate effect.
The statement added, “The Punjab Vigilance Bureau is an independent and specialised agency which has a dedicated Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for investigation of complex economic offences. Considering the specialised nature of investigations needed in the Pearl scam, and, its inter-state ramifications, the investigations have been transferred to the Vigilance Bureau so that it can be conducted in a fair and transparent manner to unravel the entire scam.”
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had recently said the government was thinking about a new strategy to handle the Pearl scam so that the money of the duped investors be returned.
The FIR at Ferozepore and Mohali stated the accused in the Pearl chit fund scam had allegedly disposed of its assets worth Rs 1,200 crores in an illegitimate manner. The police registered an FIR against the Pearl Group owner Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, his relatives and company officials under Sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120B IPC at Zira in Ferozepur.
Later, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted under then Ferozepur Range IG Jatinder Singh Aulakh that has started probe into the Ponzi scam involving the Pearls Group owner and his relatives, besides company officials and other accused.
