While the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has begun investigations into the multi-crore scam involving the IMA Group of Companies, a man who had been on the run after duping many using the same modus operandi as that of IMA was arrested by the police on Thursday.
Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths arrested the managing director of Injaz International, a Bengaluru-based finance firm, who had been absconding since April after allegedly duping people in the name of ‘Halal investment’ by failing to return their money.
The accused, Misbauddin S. Mukarram, was picked up by CCB officials from a residence in Bengaluru, where he was holed up, said Alok Kumar, Additional Commissioner (Crime). Mukarram had been allegedly running investment schemes by luring depositors with promises of returns as high as 25% since 2016. His firm was raided by Income Tax officials in May 2017 for money laundering, at which time documents pertaining to several bank accounts were seized.
In September 2017, Ananth Padmanabha, a revenue inspector in the tahsildar’s office in Yelahanka, filed a complaint with the Wilson Garden police against Injaz International. Mr. Padmanabha in his complaint, he said that at the 42nd meeting of the State-level coordination committee the issue of Injaz was discussed and officials were asked to conduct a probe. “Our probe revealed that the company was accepting deposits from investors, cheating them, and violating RBI guidelines. A criminal complaint was filed with the police under various sections of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act, 1978, and also the Chit Funds Act,1982,” he said.
However, it was only early this year that the CCB started investigating the scam, which is believed to be over ₹250 crore. Mukarram began returning the money to investors and was left with a debt of ₹89 crore.
He and his associate Suhail Ahmed Shariff approached the city civil and session court and sought anticipatory bail. At the time, he filed an affidavit before the court promising to return the money to investors. Considering their plea, the court granted them time till April 9. “As the deadline was nearing, Mukarram, who was unable to repay investors, went underground,” said the police, who are now on the hunt for Shariff.
