New Delhi: The CBI has officially taken over the I Monetary Advisory Ponzi scheme case and registered an FIR in the matter, which had surfaced earlier this year in Bengaluru, throwing tens of thousands of the company's investors in a lurch. The central agency has registered a case against 26 people, including IMA's Managing Director, Mansoor Khan, the company and four of its subsidiary companies, officials here said.
The Karnataka Government had handed the case over to the Central Bureau of Investigation weeks after BS Yeddiyurappa's BJP government came to power in the state at the end of July. The case had caused quite a stir when it came to light because of the sheer number of investors who could have been affected by the company going kaput.
The case had revealed political overtones as well when a video of Khan alleging that Shivajinagar's Congress MLA, Roshan Baig, had taken Rs 400 crore from him and was not returning it. Interestingly, Baig was one of the first politicians to rebel against the Congress-JD(S) government and jump and start a political crisis in the state that dethroned HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister.
The CBI' FIR is based on a complaint first lodged by the Bengaluru City police, where he alleged that more than Rs 1.3 crore of his investment was stuck with IMA and that Khan's company also owed him more than Rs 3 crore in construction payments. The central agency's FIR also acknowledges 15 more similar cases lodged by the Bengaluru Police and will investigate all of the cases together.
The Enforcement Directorate, which had commenced its investigation earlier has already summoned and questioned up to seven of the company's directors and spoken to more than 16 victims. The financial probe agency, which is probing money-laundering allegations against IMA, has pegged the scale of the scam to be over Rs 4,000 crore.
The IMA chief, Mansoor Khan had fled the country days before the scam surfaced, after causing a stir amongst investors by releasing a video where he threatened to kill himself. At the time, more than 35,000 investors had filed complaints with the Bengaluru City Police, taking cognizance of which the ED registered a money-laundering case in the matter.
While he was believed to have fled to Dubai after he was seen leaving the city with large suitcases, the Karnataka SIT in the course of its investigation had gotten a Blue Corner Notice issued by the Interpol through the CBI.
The SIT, however, had confirmed that Khan was in Dubai, and through its sources, convinced the IMA chief to return to India a few weeks ago. Subsequently, he was detained by immigration as soon as he arrived in Delhi and arrested by the ED. He is currently in judicial custody.