this story originally appeared in on aug 27 2014 chandigarhnew delhi in just over 30 years nirmal singh bhangoo the man behind pearls agrotech corporation ltd pacl which has been asked to return rs49000 crore to its investors by sebi by november this year has metamorphosed from a milk seller near the attari border in punjab to the owner of 183 lakh acres of land around the country bhangoos story is similar to that of sahara groups subrata roy both run business empires whose functioning critics say is opaque they rub shoulders with politicians and filmstars have real estate projects and own hotels and make no bones about their wealth roy has hotels in new york and london bhangoo has bought a hotel in australias gold coast and has built hundreds of homes in brisbane both have interests in sportspacl has sponsored ipl teams and kabaddi tournaments while roy sponsored the indian cricket team and owned an f1 team and the pune team in the ipl both run news channels and their businesses are in the hands of a few trusted men mainly family members the sahara chairman is currently behind bars and has been asked to return rs24000 crore nowrs37000 crore with interest to investors in the coming months and years pacls promoters may face a legal battle to avoid a similar fate bhangoo has battled the stock market watchdogs jurisdiction for 16 years while building a conglomerate of considerable size the crux of sebis case is that pacl is a collective investment scheme cis that ought to be shut down last week sebi asked the company to returnrs49100 crore to its investors within three months and initiated proceedings against the company and its promoters for unfair trade practices and for violating regulations on collective investment schemes cis following a supreme court order last year it also barred them from raising any more money bhangoo 61 is said to be close to several politicians cutting across political lines he is closely associated with a former congress mp from punjab as well as senior bjp and shiromani akali dal leaders who are now in power one of his trusted aides and a director in pacl subrata bhattacharya first agreed to speak to et on the issue after discussing the matter with lawyers later he did not take calls and asked the companys pr agent to send out a statement which read pacl limited in its submission to the honourable sebi bench had submitted that it is not running a cis further the company has sufficient asset holdings visavis the money raised for its real estate business sebi has unfortunately failed to recognize the submissions of the company that it cant be treated like a cis the company would now appeal this order before the securities appellate tribunal the statement also had a message for its investors pacl limited would also like to remind its customers that it has always kept their interest paramount and would continue to do so we