Karnataka high court hears PILs seeking CBI probe in IMA scam
The Karnataka high court sought status report from the state government on the investigation in the IMA scam. The directive was initiated after the hearing of PILs submitted by Rasheed Nagar and Nazia Banu from Shivajinagar, Bengaluru.
FollowBengaluru: With the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam growing from a Rs 2,000 crore scam to a Rs 10,000 crore scam, the Karnataka government has decided to hand over the case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The high court has received numerous Public Interest Litigations (PIL) demanding CBI inquiry into the scam.
The division bench headed by Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice HT Narendra Prasad has sought status report from the Karnataka government on the investigation in the IMA scam. The directive was initiated after the hearing of PILs submitted by Rasheed Nagar and Nazia Banu from Shivajinagar, Bengaluru.
More than 38,000 people have filed police complaints against the IMA group.
The scam-accused companies -- IMA group, Burraq group, Aala Ventures, Tifor Trading Service Private Limited and other companies -- have been issued notices by the high court for allegedly cheating investors.
Meanwhile, the SIT is waiting for the imposition of Karnataka Protection of Depositors in Financial Establishments (KPID) Act, 2004, by the Karnataka high court. This will allow the police to identify all properties of the IMA chief, Mansoor Khan.
The Karnataka government justifies its action of handing over the case to SIT instead of the CBI by stating that the CCB and the state-led CID have 7 cases and 17 cases in hand respectively. Whereas the CBI already has many pending cases that need to be solved.
The SIT is also probing the murder case of the journalist Gowri Lankesh and rationalist MM Kalaburagi. The journalist’s family has been satisfied with the progress made by the SIT with regard to the murder case.
Mansoor Khan released an audio clip on June 10 stating that he will commit suicide because of the bribes he had to give the bureaucrats and politicians. It is after the release of this audio clip that the scam came to light. Currently, Mansoor Khan is still absconding.
