E-Paper
Illegal sale of Pearls Group assets: New SIT formed , IG Aulakh named head
Besides Aulakh, Ranjit Singh, commandant 36th battalion, Bahadurgarh, Ratan Singh Brar, Ferozepur superintendent of police (investigation), and Gurmeet Singh, Ferozepur deputy SP (headquarters), are its other members
JALANDHAR
Punjab Police have reconstituted the special investigation team (SIT) probing the illegal sale of assets of PACL India Limited, known as Pearls Group and appointed Ferozepur range inspector general (IG) of police Jatinder Singh Aulakh as its new head.
Besides Aulakh, Ranjit Singh, commandant 36th battalion, Bahadurgarh, Ratan Singh Brar, Ferozepur superintendent of police (investigation), and Gurmeet Singh, Ferozepur deputy SP (headquarters), are its other members. The Punjab Police’s bureau of investigation issued the formal orders for the reconstitution of the probe team on August 3.
Earlier, the SIT was headed by Tarn Taran SP (headquarters) Gurnam Singh, while Jalalabad DSP Palwinder Singh Sandhu and Zira DSP Rajwinder Singh Randhawa were its members. They were working under the supervision of then deputy inspector general of police Hardial Singh Mann, who retired from service and joined the Punjab Public Service Commission as a member.
The earlier SIT has filed five chargesheets in a Zira court against 57 accused so far.
Despite the Supreme Court ban in 2016, the Pearls Group disposed of properties worth ₹1,200 crore bought with investors’ money till a case was registered against it in 2020.
Punjab Police made this valuation claim in the chargesheet against Harsatinder Singh Hayer, the son-in-law of Pearls Group owner Nirmal Singh Bhangu, after the SIT found that the properties were disposed of by either selling or illegally transferring them despite the ban. The case was registered under various sections, including cheating and criminal conspiracy, at the Zira police station in Ferozepur district in 2020
Harsatinder Singh, who was arrested by the SIT in May this year, has filed a bail plea with the district courts, Ferozepur, which has fixed the hearing for August 9. The additional district and sessions court of Ferozepur had already dismissed bail plea of more than a dozen of accused in the case.
