Pearls Group doing business in real estate business collected money from people under various housing schemes and for allotting plots in different parts of the country or by giving an option to take back their expected tentative value of land in lieu of the allotted plot under the scheme on maturity. The group was doing business dealt\ing with the sale of agricultural land through their agents and their offices having action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement. The Group was having double benefit by creating easy equity for procurement of land and later taking the benefit from the appreciation of the land prices. Information revealed, the group had collected amounts running into several crores from investors all over India and the directors of the group siphoned off amounts collected from investors and used the same for personal gains, the ED officials said.
According to the probe agency, Pearls Group transferred Rs 101 crore of investors’ money to a Mumbai-based company, Dhanashree Developers Private Limited (DDPL), and an amount worth Rs 26 crore was later transferred to DDPL. Information also revealed that Pearls Group also transferred Rs 2,285.79 crore to one Prateek Kumar who had invested Rs 94.61 crore in DDPL and Unicorn. The group, through 25 front companies, also transferred Rs 110.95 crore to a venture capital trust, which then invested it in DDPL and Unicorn in the form of debentures and equity. DDPL and Unicorn used the amount worth crores of rupees to purchase land in Maharashtra, the agency has claimed. Meanwhile, in December, 2021, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested 11 people in connection with the Rs 60,000-crore Pearls Group chit fund case. The money was collected as investments from over five crore investors.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 arrested Harsatinder Pal Singh, son-in-law of the late Nirmal Singh Bhangu, a former head of the Pearls Group, in connection with a 48,000 crore rupees alleged fraud case. PACL Limited is accused of defrauding investors through illegal investment schemes and the action was taken based on a CBI FIR accusing the company and its directors allegedly involved in fraud. ED arrested Harsindar Pal Singh son-in-law of late Nirmal Singh Bhangu, a former head of the Pearls Group in the Rs 48,000 crore fraud case, the ED said in a statement on Saturday. Earlier, the Delhi zonal office of the ED had arrested Harsindar Pal Singh on March 21 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the PACL Limited case.
PACL Limited, also known as Pearl Group is a real estate company founded in 1996 and faced investigation for allegedly illegally collecting funds from investors. This led to its ban by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Harsitinder Pal Singh after arrest was produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, which remanded him to ED custody. The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under sections 120-B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 against PACL India Limited, PGF Limited, Nirmal Singh Bhangu and others.They were involved in operating fraudulent investment schemes to defraud investors approximately Rs 48,000 crore in various schemes, the ED said in a statement said.
According to the information, land worth Rs 185 crore was attached by ED in Pearls Group chit fund scam. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) as per information has provisionally attached over three lakh square meters of land, valued at nearly Rs 185 crore, and Rs 7.51 crore from bank accounts belonging to two Mumbai-based and one Pune-based firms in the Pearls Group chit fund scam. With the funds received from Pearls Group through various channels, the two Mumbai-based firms – DDPL and Unicorn – purchased land in Vasai near Mumbai, the financial probe agency said. They entered into various agreements with different entities for the sale of Floor Space Index (FSI) and the construction of residential-cum-commercial projects, the ED said, adding that the two entities also generated huge profits in the process. Information revealed that the shareholding patterns of DDPL and Unicorn were changed frequently to legitimize the funds received from Pearls Group and to ensure that the assets are not taken over and given to investors, the ED alleged the schemes were designed as such to avoid investigation by the government agencies. The shareholders of the firms Hemant Patil and Dharmesh P Shah have claims over these assets without investing any substantial funds in the companies, ED added.
