PACL Scam: ED Raids Premises of Nirmal Singh Bhangoo's Daughter, Associate

Moneylife Digital Team 26 March 2025

Economy & Nation

The Delhi zonal office of the directorate of enforcement (ED) conducted search operations at three premises in Gurgaon under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The premises searched on 23 March 2025 belonged to Barinder Kaur, daugher of PACL founder late Nirmal Singh Bhangoo and her associate Manoj Kumar. Manoj Kumar is identified as a close associate of Ms Kaur and her husband Harsatinder Pal Singh.

The raids, carried out on 23 March 2025, are part of an ongoing investigation into the massive Rs48,000 crore PACL fraud case.

ED, Delhi Zonal Office has conducted search operations on 23.03.2025 at the premises of Smt Barinder Kaur, daughter of late Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, and Manoj Kumar, close associate of Harsatinder Pal Singh and Smt Barinder Kaur, in connection with the M/s PACL fraud case,…
— ED (@dir_ed) March 25, 2025

During the operations, officials seized significant evidence, including digital records and property documents linked to PACL and its affiliates. ED has stated that further investigations into the scam are ongoing.

The investigation stems from a first information report (FIR) registered by the banking and securities fraud cell (BSFC) of central bureau of investigation (CBI) under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, against PACL India Ltd, PGF Ltd, and key accused, including Nirmal Singh Bhangoo. The companies and individuals involved are alleged to have operated fraudulent investment schemes, deceiving thousands of investors.

As part of the probe, Harsatinder Pal Singh, the son-in-law of the late Mr Bhangoo, was arrested on 21 March 2025 and has been remanded to ED custody by a special court.

The PACL fraud case is considered one of India’s largest financial scams, with lakhs of investors allegedly defrauded through deceitful investment schemes.

In February 2019, a committee headed by retired justice (retd) RM Lodha, which is supervising the Supreme Court (SC)-ordered process of selling PACL's assets initiated the process of refunds in phases for investors who had invested in PACL. PACL (or Pearls) is one of the largest Ponzi schemes in India which had been allowed to run for decades, amassing over Rs60,000 crore. The committee asked PACL investors to submit online applications for refunds.

The Lodha committee has been processing applications received from investors in a phased manner, slab-wise and, currently, applications with claim amount up to Rs10,000 have been processed and payments have been made in respect of eligible claim applications.

The documents uploaded by the PACL investors are verified and then payment amount is calculated, applications processed and, subsequently, payments are processed.

The mobilisation of funds by PACL goes back prior to 1997. On receipt of a complaint, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 30 November 1999 and 10 December 1999 issued letters asking PACL to comply with the provisions of the collective investment scheme (CIS) regulations.

In September 2018, ED filed a charge-sheet against PACL and its chief Nirmal Singh Bhangoo in connection with a Ponzi scam involving over Rs49,100 crore, which was collected allegedly by two companies from millions of investors. The ED, which started the probe after lodging an first information report (FIR) in 2015 based on the CBI's case, had, in January 2018, attached Australia-based assets of the Pearls group and Mr Bhangoo worth Rs472 crore.

Mr Bhangoo, his companies PACL and Pearls Golden Forest Ltd (PGFL), as well as several thousands of his commission agents were accused of cheating 55 million investors on the pretext of sale and development of agriculture land.

The companies made false allotments of land to investors. However, the companies never owned any land in their own name.

Mr Bhangoo and his companies promised the investors that allotment would be done on their investment between 90 and 270 days and, if not, handsome returns would be paid.

You may also want to read our coverage on PACL scam here…

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