Nirmal Singh Bhangoo: The man who rose from a milk seller to owner of 1.83 lakh acres of land in 30 years
CHANDIGARH|NEW DELHI: In just over 30 years, Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, the man behind Pearls Agrotech Corporation Ltd (PACL) which has been asked to return Rs49,000 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 1.83 lakh acres of land around the country. Bhangoo's story is similar to that of Sahara group's Subrata Roy. Both run business empires whose functioning, critics say, is opaque. hey 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 Australia's Gold Coast and has built hundreds of homes in Brisbane. Both have interests in sports—PACL 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 han