The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought sanction for prosecution of six public servants, including two senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in the State, for their alleged role in the multi-crore I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam where thousands of investors were allegedly cheated.
The officers are Hemanth Nimbalkar, 1998 batch IPS officer who probed IMA when he was IGP, Economic Offences Wing, CID; E.B. Sridhar, who was Dy. SP, CID; Ajay Hilori, 2008 batch IPS officer who was DCP (East – Bengaluru); then inspector (M. Ramesh) and and sub-inspector (P. Gowrishankar) of Commercial Street Police Station, under whose jurisdiction IMA offices are located; and L.C. Nagaraj, former Assistant Commissioner (Bengaluru North).
Nimbalkar probed IMA following complaints from investors and had submitted a report in December 2018 stating that no action could be initiated against the firm under the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act, 2004, as it was operating under the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) model. He was recently questioned by the CBI multiple times.
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Sridhar was involved in the same probe in the CID.
Hilori had allegedly not taken action against the firm despite a complaint.
The two inspectors of Commercial Street Police Station were involved in the same probe.
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Of the six, L.C. Nagaraj was arrested by the Special Investigation Team of the State police that probed the case before the CBI took over. B.M. Vijay Shankar, former deputy commissioner (Bengaluru Urban), who allegedly closed a case against IMA, was also arrested.
A request for prosecution against former Vijay Shankar is pending before the State government.
With the latest set of requests, a total of seven requests are now pending for approval before the State government.
The CBI has filed two chargesheets in the case against 23 persons, including Mohammed Mansoor Khan, the founder and MD of IMA. The agency will file a supplementary chargesheet against these officials once the government grants sanction, CBI sources said.
However, the sources were tight-lipped on the charges for which permission to prosecute has been sought.