PACL, falsely promising land ownership, defrauded over 50 million Indians of nearly Rs 49,000 crore. Investors made small monthly deposits, but received only worthless certificates.
For nearly two decades, millions of Indians — farmers, labourers, pensioners, and homemakers — were sold a dream. A small investment, they were told, could secure land and prosperity for generations. That dream was shattered when the Uttar Pradesh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested 69-year-old Gurnam Singh, one of the key directors of Pearls Agro-Tech Corporation Ltd (PACL), from his home in Ropar, Punjab, this week.
Behind Singh's calm exterior lies a web of deception that allegedly defrauded over five crore people of nearly Rs 49,000 crore, one of the biggest financial scams in India's history.
A web of false promises
The company, once marketed as a gateway to real estate wealth, operated branches across 10 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, and Kerala. It lured investors by promising them land plots in return for small monthly deposits. But years passed, and neither land nor returns ever came.
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"I put in Rs 20,000 over five years hoping to buy land for my daughter's future. Now I have nothing," said Ramesh Kumar, a farmer from Farrukhabad, one of the districts in UP where PACL ran aggressive campaigns.
According to EOW officials, over Rs 19,000 crore was collected from Uttar Pradesh alone, with most investors unaware that the company was not even registered as a financial entity under RBI's NBFC norms.
The man behind the curtain
Gurnam Singh was no stranger to the scheme. Appointed as a director in 1998 by PACL’s late founder Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, Singh was one of ten people named in a 2018 FIR registered in Kanpur. With four of them already in jail and others absconding, Singh's arrest is seen as a breakthrough in a long-delayed justice process.
"It was a classic Ponzi scheme," said Neera Rawat, Director General of EOW. "Old investors were paid with money from new ones. Agents got commissions and were asked to rope in family and friends. The scam fed on trust."
An empire built on lies
Originally registered in 1996 as Guruvant Agro-Tech Ltd, the company later rebranded as PACL Ltd and set up glitzy offices in Delhi’s Barakhamba Road. On paper, it sold land. In reality, it sold hope — and crushed it.
People received bond certificates and receipts instead of land titles. The promised returns never materialized. PACL even held seminars and public events to add legitimacy.
"I was promised land in Rajasthan after 6 years. I even convinced my brother to invest. Now I feel like a fool," said Sunita Devi, a retired schoolteacher from Sultanpur.
Follow the money
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also been chasing the money trail. A supplementary charge sheet was recently filed in Delhi’s PMLA court, revealing that PACL laundered funds through shell companies.
At the center of this web was Harsatinder Pal Singh Hayer, Bhangoo’s son-in-law, who allegedly bought prime real estate in Mumbai, Punjab, and Haryana with the stolen money.
The man who started it all
Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, the mastermind, came from humble beginnings. Once a milkman in Barnala, Punjab, he later worked in failed investment schemes like Golden Forest India Ltd. After those ventures collapsed, Bhangoo set up PACL and began building an empire of deceit.
He died before the full weight of the law could catch up with him. But his legacy — one of ruined lives and broken trust — continues.
What happens next
With Gurnam Singh now in custody, victims across the country are watching closely. For them, justice has taken years — some have died waiting. Others still hold onto the paperwork they were once proud of, hoping someday the government will help them recover even a fraction of what they lost.
