The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a charge sheet against seven persons, including the then Executive Engineer of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), in connection with an I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Group Ponzi scam case.
Among those arraigned are P.D. Kumar, then Executive Engineer of the BDA; IMA group, its chief executive officer and managing director Mohammed Mansoor Khan; and directors, Nizamuddin Ahamed, Vaseem, Naveed Ahmed and Nazir Hussain.
According to the agency, the IMA Group’s directors had paid about ₹5 crore bribe in four instalments of ₹1.5 crore, ₹1 crore, ₹1.5 crore and ₹1 crore during April-May, 2019, to the BDA official.
It is alleged that the bribe was paid on the instructions of Mr. Khan, to ensure that officials of the Revenue Department in the Karnataka government accepted a closure report submitted by the Competent Authority and the then Assistant Commissioner, Bengaluru North Sub-Division. The closure report was submitted in April, 2019, to the Revenue Department.
The CBI, in its charge sheet, has alleged that Mr. Khan was waiting for the report to be accepted to evade legal proceedings. The accused contacted the executive engineer, who demanded ₹5 crore for getting the job done.
“However, the said report was not accepted by the then Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, and instead, it was sent to the Law Department for an opinion and on not being satisfied with the report, he referred it to the Director-General of Police, Karnataka, to conduct further enquiry in the matter,” said the agency.
As the objective was not achieved, Mr. Khan and the directors put pressure on the accused BDA official to return the bribe amount. He allegedly paid back ₹30 lakh and also issued two cheques of his savings account for ₹2 crore and ₹2.5 crore, as security till the remaining amount was returned. The CBI has recovered the two cheques.
“Several WhatsApp chats between the said executive engineer and the said directors about the file movement, gate digital-access logs showing different entry and statements of several witnesses have been gathered,” said the agency.
The CBI has registered four cases pertaining to the scam. Multiple charge sheets have been filed against those involved in cheating a large number of depositors on the promise of phenomenal returns.
