CBI files charge sheet against Pearls Group CMD, five others

New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday filed a charge sheet against Pearls Group CMD Nirmal Singh Bhangoo and five others,

including two firms, in a case of alleged swindling of over Rs 45,000 crore from over five crore investors in the name of various investment schemes.

The charge sheet was filed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Charu Aggarwal who took cognisance of it and fixed the matter for scrutiny of documents on April 21.

The charge sheet was filed against Bhangoo, his firms Pearl Agrotech Corporation Ltd (PACL), Pearls Golden Forest Ltd (PGF), and its promoters and directors Sukhdev Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Subrata Bhattacharya under various sections of the IPC and the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.

"I have gone through the charge sheet. I take cognisance. Documents supplied to all four accused... Put up for scrutiny of documents on April 21." the magistrate said.

CBI has charged the accused of offences including criminal conspiracy, dishonestly receiving stolen property, cheating and forgery under the IPC and under sections 4 and 5 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.

The court had earlier summoned as accused PACL, its promoters and directors, Bhangoo, Tarlochan Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Subrata Bhattacharya, Joginder Tyger, Gurnam Singh, Anand Gurwant Singh and Devinder Kumar Uppal on SEBI's complaint.

Bhangoo who was present in the court room with his counsel Manish Jain and Vijay Agarwal, was earlier granted bail along with another official of his company, Tarlochan Singh. Bhangoo is presently in judicial custody as he has not furnished the bail bond.