The main accused in the multi-crore I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam Mansoor Khan was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday morning (July 19, 2019), soon after his arrival at the Delhi airport from Dubai.
Mansoor is accused of cheating investors to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore and fleeing the country after his firm closed its operations in June 2019.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Karnataka government in a statement said that it persuaded Mansoor through its sources to return to India and submit himself before the law.
“An SIT team located IMA founder-owner Mohd Mansoor Khan in Dubai, through its sources, & persuaded him to come back to India & submit himself before the law. Accordingly, he travelled from Dubai to New Delhi. SIT officers are in Delhi to secure & arrest him,” told SIT chief Ravikanthe Gowda to the media.
Earlier on Monday, Khan in a seven-minute video clip had claimed that he has booked air tickets and would return to India within 24 hours. Khan, in the video, sought the help of police and the judiciary to recover the money, which he claimed has been extorted from him by politicians and anti-social elements.
Following his arrest, Mansoor is being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi, after which he will be sent to Bengaluru for a detailed probe by the SIT.
In relation to the Ponzi scheme, both SIT and ED had issued a lookout circular against Mansoor.
IMA Scam
Over a lakh people had invested in the IMA Jewels which started 17 companies. In five out of 17 companies, people (mostly Muslims) invested over Rs 4,000 crore, of which Mansoor Khan has to return approximately Rs 1,400 crore to the investors, said the SIT. Khan had asked people to invest by offering saving options in line with Islamic laws.
The scam came to light on June 10 when an audio clip, allegedly belonging to Khan, surfaced on social media.
In the clip, he blamed former Karnataka Minister and Congress leader R. Roshan Baig and other government officials of corruption. He said that he defaulted on paying investors because he had to pay bribes.
Recently, SIT questioned Baig following allegations by Khan that he had borrowed ₹400 crore from him. However, after release, he claimed that the was detained owing to some confusion and would cooperate with the investigators.
In relation to the scam, the SIT has so far arrested 22 people including Khan, 12 directors of the firm, deputy commissioner of Bengaluru urban district Vijay Shankar, assistant commissioner L C Nagaraj, a Bangalore Development Authority officer, a nominated corporator of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and a village accountant.
Also read: IMA Scam: SIT Arrests Engineer For Accepting Bribes From Founder Mansoor Khan
