Pearl Group scam: Punjab govt shifts investigation to Vigilance Bureau
Chandigarh, May 21
The Punjab government has shifted the investigation into the Pearl Group chit fund fraud to the Vigilance Bureau. As per orders, the Vigilance Bureau will take over the FIRs related to the scam registered in Ferozepur.
The government order stated: The investigations of FIRS registered in connection with the Pearl Scam in District Ferozepur (FIR no 79 of 2020 Police Station Zira) and State Crime Police Station, SAS Nagar (FIR 1 of 2023) have been transferred to the Vigilance Bureau with immediate effect.
The statement added, “The Punjab Vigilance Bureau is an independent and specialised agency which has a dedicated Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for investigation of complex economic offences. Considering the specialised nature of investigations needed in the Pearl Scam, and, its inter-state ramifications, the investigations have been transferred to the Vigilance Bureau so that they can be conducted in a fair and transparent manner to unravel the entire Pearl Scam. No person involved in the scam shall be spared and all available evidence would be brought on record. Efforts would be made by Vigilance Bureau, in coordination with Lodha Committee set-up by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to return the investments of the maximum numbers of duped investors.”
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had recently said the government was thinking about a new strategy to handle the Pearl scam so that the money of the duped investors be returned.
