PRAMESH S JAIN
The main prime accused in the multi-crore IMA Ponzi scam of about Rs.2500 Crore scam IMA founder Mansoor Khan was produced on Saturday before the Special Prevention of money laundering Act court in Bengaluru and the Judge Shivashankar has sent the accused to the custody of Enforcement Directorate (ED) till July 23.
As the ED also booked Khan under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for transfer of funds to overseas banks,ED Director,Raman Gupta produced him before Special PMLA court judge Shivashankar for 10 days custody but the court has remanded him to 3 days.
Security was heightened by the Bengaluru city police commissioner,Alok Kumar while he was being produced before the Special PMLA Court 2 DCPs as,Ramesh Banoth,Dr.Chandragupta with ACPs,PIs,with others more than 300 police personnel were deployed for no untoward incident take place as a precautionary measures as many investors were trying to stage a protest.
STIR was seen near Shanthinagar ED office where in investors staged protest demanding CBI probe in the case.
The Delhi Police produced Mansoor Khan before Duty Magistrate Harjit Singh Jaspal in New Delhi on Friday night for transit remand to take him to Bengaluru where his company is headquartered.
Khan was arrested at the international airport early on Friday on arrival from Dubai on an Air India flight by the ED sleuths.
The major breakthrough in the mega scam for the ED and SIT came as a lookout or Blue Corner notice on Khan was issued to all concerned, including Interpol.
He was brought back to Bengaluru on Saturday and produced before the court, where the Enforcement Directorate sought his custodial remand for further interrogation.
Khan reportedly revealed big names involved in the case during his questioning, according to sources. He will be confronted with documentary evidence gathered by the probe agency along with statements recorded by other suspects in the case.
It is alleged that Mansoor Khan has revealed the name of many politicians,7 IPS,6 IAS,6 KAS,former ministers and others names who has taken bribe from him.
The Karnataka Special Investigation Team, which is also investigating IMA, had also demanded police custody of Khan,They said they had arrested 23 accused in the case and his custody was required to establish the links.
Meanwhile the SIT team headed by DIG,Dr.BR Ravikanthe Gowda under the supervision of DCP Girish S and his team as ACP Balaraj and his special team has continued the searches they have conducted a search on Mulberry supermarkets and has been successful in recovering Rs.4.6 crore worth of demand draft from Adoni constructions which was given by IMA founder to construct Skywalks in Bengaluru and Cash worth Rs.52,030 and 300 silver coins worth Rs.60,000 were seized by SIT from Mulberry market.
IMA Ponzi scam:
Khan has been accused of running a ponzi scheme in Karnataka that has allegedly duped more than 40,000 people of around Rs.2500 crore.People from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Tamil Nadu are said to have invested into the company.
The Bengaluru-based company had been collecting investments for several years, assuring investors of returns of over 3% per month.However,the fraud came to light after hundreds of people gathered outside the investment firm’s offices on June 12, saying that it had not provided returns on their investments for more than two months.
On July 8, the SIT had arrested Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru urban district BM Vijay Shankar for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 1.5 crore from Khan. Shankar had taken the bribe in exchange for a favourable report after the Reserve Bank of India had asked the state government to investigate the firm’s business.
The SIT had also detained suspended Congress MLA Roshan Baig in the case and questioned him for several hours and after collecting the information he was released.
Investigations under PMLA revealed that the accused companies and its directors indulged in the offence of money laundering by cheating people through ponzi schemes and generating the proceeds of crime in the form of movable and immovable properties.
IMA founder Mansoor Khan,who is accused of perpetrating financial fraud worth crores,was shifted to a hospital on Sunday after he complained of chest pains.
Mansoor Khan, was taken to Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research on Sunday after he complained of chest pain.
Sources said Khan,who is in Enforcement Directorate custody after he landed in New Delhi from Dubai on Friday, was to undergo a health check-up, for which he was taken to Victoria Hospital on Sunday. However, he complained of chest pain and was rushed to Jayadeva Institute around 7 p.m.
C.N. Manjunath, senior cardiologist and director of Jayadeva Institute, told reporters that Khan came in with complaints of chest pain and palpitations. This, he said, could be an indication of stress and anxiety.Khan,who has a history of cardiac problems,underwent CT angiogram and has been on medication.He said Khan was advised admission for a day.However, he has refused admission. We will take it in writing from him,he said.
