New Delhi [India], April 15 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday carried out searches at the premises of Congress leader Pratap Singh Khachariyawas in Rajasthan and AAP leader Kulwant Singh in Punjab, among more than 15 locations, in the matter of Pearl Agro Corporation Limited (PACL), which concerns investor fraud involving Rs 48,000 crore.

The raids have been underway since early Tuesday across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

ED officials familiar with the development said the locations being searched include the residential premises of Khachariyawas, former Cabinet Transport Minister of Rajasthan and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh.

Further, the central agency said that a First Information Report (FIR) has also been registered against associates of late Nirmal Singh Bhangoo for illegally disposing of the properties of PACL and associate entities.

In October last year, the central agency conducted searches at 44 premises across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand in the case against PACL. The company had illegally collected at least Rs 49,100 crore from 58 million investors over 18 years, as alleged.

The ED probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation. It was alleged that PACL collected money from the public through illegal collective investment schemes for allotting plots in different parts of the country or by giving the option to take back their expected tentative value of land in lieu of the allotted plot under the scheme on maturity.

As per the ED, the directors of PACL siphoned off the amounts received from investors by transferring them to shell companies located in Kolkata on the pretext of land development expenses. The funds were later withdrawn in cash and handed over to the key associates of PACL in Delhi. They were further transferred from Delhi via 'hawala' to the companies incorporated in Dubai in the name of the key associates of PACL for the purchase of immovable properties abroad.

The agency has already attached two immovable properties in Australia worth Rs 462 crore in 2018 and movable and immovable properties worth Rs 244 crore in India in 2022.

The ED has so far filed prosecution complaints against 11 entities, including PACL and its related companies, and the main accused, late Nirmal Singh Bhagoo, along with his alleged close associates, KS Toor, ML Sehjpal, Prateek, CP Khandelwal, and others. (ANI)