LUCKNOW, July 11 -- The Uttar Pradesh Police's economic offences wing (EOW) on Wednesday arrested a former director of the Pearl Agro-tech Corporation Ltd (PACL), identified as Gurnam Singh from Rupnagar in connection with Rs.49,000 crore investment scam. EOW director general Neera Rawat, while addressing a press conference at police headquarters in Lucknow on Thursday, said that the accused has been arrested in a case registered in the matter in UP's Jalaun. She said the scam involved at least 5 crore investors spread across 10 states including UP, Assam, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh. "The company allegedly collected huge sums of money from the public by promising to provide land plots in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Mahoba, Sultanpur, Farrukhabad, and Jalaun. PACL issued bond receipts to investors without registering itself as a non-banking financial company (NBFC) with the Reserve Bank of India. The company collected approximately Rs.49,000 crore from investors across 10 states but failed to provide plots or refund the invested amount," Rawat said. A police official, privy to the investigation, said that Gurnam was living at his farmhouse, built away from his village in Rupnagar. "He was earlier arrested in 2016 by CBI along with four more accused in the case registered in Delhi between 2012 and 2015 but came out on bail after six months. He then started living a secluded life at his farmhouse. He was wanted in the case related to the same scam in Jalaun since then and was arrested on Tuesday in the same case. The accused has been handed over to the Jaulan police after bringing him to UP on transit remand for further legal proceedings," he said. PACL's chairman, Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, who was lodged in Tihar jail died last year, and three other officials were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2016 in connection with a similar case in Delhi. In 2018, the enforcement directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet against PACL and its chief, Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, alleging a ponzi scam involving over Rs.49,100 crore....