Former Congress Minister Roshan Baig Arrested by CBI in IMA Scam

The CBI detained Roshan Baig for questioning on Sunday morning.

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday arrested former Congress Minister Roshan Baig in connection with the I, Monetary Advisory scam case.

(File Photo: IANS)

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday arrested former Congress Minister Roshan Baig in connection with the I, Monetary Advisory scam case. Mohammed Mansoor Khan has been accused of duping over 30,000 investors of crores of rupees in a Ponzi scam, where he primarily promised to invest their money in the gold market.

Roshan Baig, the former MLA from Shivajinagar in Bengaluru was accused of helping prime accused Mohammed Mansoor Khan of fleeing the country when the scam broke out. On Sunday, the CBI conducted search and seizure operations at Roshan Baig’s residence in Bengaluru and took him into custody. He was being questioned at the CBI’s office in Bengaluru. He was arrested on Sunday evening.

In 2019, the Special Investigation Team, which was probing the case, had detained Roshan Baig after his name cropped up in the case. The prime accused Mohammed Mansoor Khan and owner of IMA, had in a video alleged that Roshan Baig had extorted money from him.

After the video was uploaded on YouTube, Roshan Baig was detained by the SIT as he had tried to board a private charter plane to a foreign country. The SIT had alleged that Baig was trying to flee the country.

When the scam broke out in 2019, the then Revenue Minister RV Deshpande had said that Roshan Baig had introduced him to Mansoor Khan in July that year, asking for favours to not investigate the companies dealings as suggested by the RBI.

In 2015, the RBI had asked the Karnataka government to probe IMA’s dealings. The Karnataka police had said that IMA had not violated any norms as all investors were partners in the company. Unsatisfied by the government’s response, RBI had once again asked the government to probe the case. The state government reopened the investigation in November 2018.

In all, around 25 people were arrested in connection with the scam including Mohammed Mansoor Khan, the kingpin.

These also include former Assistant Commissioner of Bengaluru North Taluk LC Nagaraj and former village accountant Manjunath N. In a supplementary charge sheet in the same case 28 accused including  senior IPS officers Hemant Nimbalkar and Ajay Hilori have been named. Other than the two IPS officers,  former deputy superintendent of police (CID) EB Sridhara, inspector and station house officer of the Commercial Street Police Station M Ramesh, and sub-inspector of the station P Gowrishankar has also been listed as accused.

Former Bengaluru Urban DC Vijay Shankar who was also arrested by the SIT and was named as an accused died in June in a suspected case of suicide.

(This story was first published by The News Minute and has been republished here with permission.)