Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, the founder of Pearls Group and a key figure in a massive Rs 45,000 crore ponzi scheme affecting over five crore investors, has died in a hospital, according to multiple sources.
Reports indicate that Bhangoo was taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in West Delhi after his condition worsened while he was in Tihar jail. Confirmation from either the jail officials or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is still pending.
Bhangoo, along with three associates, was apprehended by the CBI in January 2016. They were accused of defrauding Rs 45,000 crore from more than five crore investors through deceptive land deals.
Last year, the Punjab government initiated proceedings to seize properties owned by Pearls Group to sell them and compensate the victims of the multi-crore chit fund scam.
The CBI, which began its investigation on February 19, 2014, has claimed that billions of rupees were embezzled by Pearls Group’s primary companies—PGF Ltd and PACL Ltd—through fraudulent ponzi schemes, deceiving nearly 5.50 crore investors nationwide.
Properties belonging to the Pearls Group were identified in various Punjab districts, leading to legal action to reclaim these assets.
The case was registered based on Supreme Court directives, and the CBI also detained Harchand Singh Gill, a Pearls Group director, who was extradited from Fiji under 'Operation Trishul' and arrested upon his arrival in New Delhi.
Additionally, last November, a Delhi court remanded Sub-Inspector Rajesh Yadav to 14 days of judicial custody in a bribery case related to the ponzi scam. Yadav was accused of accepting a Rs 4.5 lakh bribe from a Pearls Group employee to avoid implicating his daughter and son-in-law in the case.
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