Mansoor Khan, Kingpin of IMA Scam, Granted Bail by Karnataka HC

File image of IMA Jewels Founder and Managing Director Mansoor Khan.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday, 28 October, granted bail to IMA Jewels Founder and Managing Director Mansoor Khan, the prime accused in the ponzi scheme.

Mansoor has been in jail since July 2019, when he was first arrested by officials of the Enforcement Directorate.

According to reports, his bail conditions include submitting his passport, and furnishing a bond of Rs 5 lakh.

As widely reported, Mansoor is the kingpin of the scam that has affected 40,000 investors, many of whom are middle and lower-middle class Muslims who had invested in his “halal” scheme.

The Central Bureau of Investigation which later took over the case had recently chargesheeted two  Karnataka government officials in connection with the case. The officials concerned are then Assistant Commissioner of Bengaluru North Taluk LC Nagaraj and village accountant Manjunath N.

Along with Khan, the directors and others who benefited from the scheme were also arrested. In all, around 25 people were arrested in connection with the scam.

In its charge sheet filed in September before a special CBI court in Bengaluru, the CBI has alleged that Nagaraj received Rs 4.5 crore from Khan and other directors of IMA for giving a clean chit to IMA activities, while Manjunath as middleman had received Rs 10 lakh.

In a supplementary charge sheet in the same case 28 accused including  senior IPS officers Hemant Nimbalkar and Ajay Hilori has 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.

IANS had earlier reported how the CBI  probe showed that Hilori, directly supervising the work of Ramesh and Gowrishankar, had failed to register cases in spite of receiving written complaints from state government officials and social activists, they said.

(The article was originally published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)