ED raids PACL promoter Nirmal Bhangoo's daughter in PMLA case linked to Ponzi scheme

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate Tuesday said it has searched the premises of the daughter of late PACL promoter Nirmal Singh Bhangoo and some others as part of a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged Rs 48,000 crore Ponzi scheme in which numerous investors were duped.

Three premises in Gurugram including that of Bhangoo's daughter Barinder Kaur apart from that of Manoj Kumar, a "close associate" of Kaur and her husband Harsatinder Pal Singh Hayer, were raided on March 23, the federal probe agency said in a statement.

"Significant evidence including digital documents and property papers linked to PACL and its family members were seized (during the searches)," it said.

Kaur and Kumar could not be contacted for a response on the allegations made by the ED against them.

The ED last week arrested Hayer in this case.

The money laundering investigation of 2015 stems from a CBI FIR against PACL India Limited, PGF Limited, Bhangoo and others for operating "fraudulent" investment schemes to deceive the investors.

Through these schemes, PACL and its directors "defrauded" the investors for about Rs 48,000 crore, as per the ED.

The ED has attached assets worth Rs 706 crore, including Rs 462 crore worth two immovable properties in Australia, and has filed two chargesheets against PACL, Bhangoo and others.

Bhangoo died in August last year.