In March 2019, probably for the first time in 13 years, the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Group, which had taken money from tens of thousands of investors across the State, defaulted on payments.
On June 9, the police received a trickle of complaints from a few citizens. In less than a week, while Eid was being celebrated, that trickle grew into a flood with more than 33,500 complaints against the group and its founder and managing director Mohammed Mansoor Khan, who is absconding.
The IMA Group had been under the scanner of several agencies, but no action had been taken. According to officials, not a single citizen had stepped forward in response to a public notice in November 2018 by the Revenue Department seeking complaints against the group for cheating investors.
Founded in 2006, the group took deposits from citizens on which monthly dividend was paid in the range of 2.75% to 8%. “Many of those who complained against Ambidant Marketing [another company allegedly involved in a similar scam] had invested in IMA as well. But they were not willing to file a complaint against IMA at the time as they were receiving dividends,” said a senior revenue official.
Initial rumblings
The situation changed in March 2019 when IMA started defaulting on payments.
“IMA has now revealed itself to be a ponzi-like scheme, which operates on the constant rotation of money, where old investors are paid with money taken from new investors. Money is ploughed into various businesses, in this case gold bullion, jewellery and real estate. If any chunk of investment is stuck or there is lack of new investors, it will disrupt the cycle and the company will go kaput. This is exactly what seems to have happened with IMA,” explained a senior police official.
With Mansoor Khan successfully giving dividends for 13 years, investigators are probing the reason for the default. In an audio message, which he recorded before he went underground, Mansoor claimed to have given Congress leader Roshan Baig ₹400 crore, which was not returned. Mr. Baig has denied the charge.
The Special Investigation Team and the Enforcement Directorate are now auditing his accounts to find out how the funds received as investments were diverted. Police sources said that in the past two years, IMA had come under severe stress.
According to a source in the police, “Mansoor, who was being blackmailed by various agencies and even some media organisations, had to make contributions to politicians to stay afloat. His attempts to borrow money from the market failed.”
When money was tight and he started defaulting on payments, he alerted investors and blamed the eight-week-long parliamentary elections for “disrupting cash flow in our market”. In a series of messages to investors, he gave several deadlines for payments in April and May, but missed all of them. As rumours grew on social media that he was planning to flee, Mansoor sent a message to investors in mid-May appealing to them not to listen to rumours and asked them to file complaints with the cyber crime cell of the police against those who were carrying out this “misinformation campaign”. He assured investors that the network was “sound enough with its gold stock and business clientele network, assets in the form of land and buildings”.
But it did little to stem the panic.
In the last message on May 27, he asked investors not to come to the IMA offices for one week as the rush of people was hampering business. Two days later, he closed the offices. He assured investors that he would pay all their dues by June 5 and re-open the offices by June 10. It is now learnt that he even held a meeting with other directors of IMA and assured them that all was well.
Police step in
In the backdrop of these initial rumblings, acting on orders from Neelamani N. Raju, DG&IGP, Karnataka State Police, the Central Crime Branch called Mansoor for questioning. “On June 6, he was questioned for over an hour. We sought documents about the financial health of his company, which he promised to submit,” said Alok Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), Bengaluru.
But this seemed to be the tipping point. Fearing arrest, Mansoor is said to have fled the country on the night of June 8. The SIT is yet to confirm this. Hours before he absconded, he posted on Facebook: “The IMA Group has property worth ₹1,050 crore in Bengaluru. It has physical assets, but people don’t have patience, people are greedy, people are anxious, people filled with anxiety, people filled with un-Islamic life. ”
BJP for central intervention
While demanding a CBI probe, BJP State president and leader of opposition B.S. Yeddyurappa said that party MPs from the State will press for intervention by the Union government on behalf of cheated investors. He was speaking to a delegation of cheated IMA investors that met him on Saturday and sought his support.
“The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has already started a probe. We also speak to the Union government to make all efforts to arrest the absconding kingpin Mohammed Mansoor Khan, said to have fled abroad. Only a CBI probe can deliver justice to the victims,” he said.
Meanwhile, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) accused politicians and a few religious heads from the minority community of providing credibility to IMA and its kingpin. It demanded a probe into their role in abetment of the crime as well.
SIT raids residences of directors
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday searched the residences of the seven IMA directors who are currently in their custody.
Six teams conducted simultaneous searches in Tusker Town, Shivajinagar, Govindapura and HBR Layout, and seized a cache of documents related to IMA.
Meanwhile, the auditor, Iqbal Khan, was questioned for the second consecutive day. “He has not been arrested, but is helping the SIT audit the accounts of the firm, to understand the scam,” said a source.
So far, the number of complaints against the company has reached 33,500.
Sources said SIT officials are preparing paper work to get a Red Corner Notice issued against Mansoor even though some suspect him of fleeing to the UAE on June 8.
PRO for SIT
Inspector M.A. Mohammad has been appointed as the PRO. Those who want to contact the SIT can contact him on 8431275375 and email to policehelp.ima@gmail.com .
