Investors Beware

  • Abhishek Behl / FG
  • India
  • Jan 30, 2015

Thousands of investors in Gurgaon, Mewat, Rewari and adjoining areas have lost crores of rupees after investing in the pyramid type investment scheme offered by Pearl Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL). There are farmers, landless labourers, landowners whose land was acquired by the government and private builders, traders, widows who got compensation from the army, and several employees who have retired from their jobs. The investors said that they invested money in the hope of getting the promised returns, or plots of land. PACL is owned and run by Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, who has built a real estate and investment empire in the last 30 years. Starting as a milk seller in Punjab, Bhangoo has come a long way. He reportedly owns almost 2 lakh acres of land across the country. On Tuesday a large number of distressed investors from Haryana and Rajasthan held a protest in Gurgaon. They called on Deputy Commissioner TL Satyaprakash, and demanded action against the company. Prithvi Raj, President of PACL investors Association, told Friday Gurgaon, “We have met the company officials and visited their offices, but even after the maturity the money is not being repaid.” Omwati, a widow from Rewari, said that she invested based on the insistence of a local broker, who promised great returns. “I got Rs. 11 lakhs from the army as compensation after my husband died. Now everything seems lost.”  Omwati also said that maturity cheques had been issued by PACL to her and other investors. However, these cheques bounced, and they were taken back by officials, who now refuse to honour their commitment.The company offices in Narnaul and Rewari, which had been manned by dozens of people and multitude of brokers, now bear a deserted look, and there is no one to hear the investors’complaints. Ashok Saini, a resident of Sanjay Gram in Gurgaon, said that he had invested lakhs of rupees in the Company. “I don’t know why the government allows such people to operate,” he rued. A majority was roped in by locally known agents. PACL is said to have recruited almost 30 lakh agents across the country. However, some of them were also among the protestors. One of them, from Jaipur, revealed that he had mobilised almost one crore rupees from the people he knows, the majority of them belonging to the lower middle class. He himself had lost around 5 lakh rupees. The investors said that no action has been taken because Bhangoo is very close to top politicians. The agents now admit that they are not sure whether Everybody’s money is safe or not. They said that the company basically buys cheap land in the hope that its price will increase once the land use is changed. While the Company claims that it has adequate funds to meet the investors’ claims, the CBI is reportedly on the job, and has formed special teams to probe the alleged Rs 45000 crores scam related to Pearl Agrotech Corporation Ltd (PACL) and Pearl Golden Forest Ltd (PGF). Initial investigation is thought to have revealed a large scam in the garb of a Collective Investment Scheme (CIS).The Company however claims it’s not running any CIS. The police and economic offence departments in respective States should monitor such businesses and prevent people from getting cheated instead of waiting for scams to happen, says Sandeep Kumar, an investor in PACL. The investors are now hoping that justice will prevail.

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