The Special Investigation Team probing the halal investment scam perpetrated by IMA’s Mohammed Mansoor Khan on Friday took four of the company’s marketing representatives into custody.
The SIT detained Mohid Idrees, Fousal, Shahdaab Khan and Irshan Khan. SIT sources say that the four men were appointed by Mohammed Mansoor Khan, the founder of IMA, to lure in more people to invest money into the scheme.
“Mohid, Fousal, Shahdaab and Irshan were equivalent to marketing representatives. Their job was to promote IMA’s investment scheme and bring in more people. They were also given generous commissions once a new investment bond was issued,” the source said.
Investigators suspect that the four men may have clues regarding the disappearance of gold, silver, diamonds and other ornaments from IMA jewellery stores in Jayanagar and Shivajinagar. “There are also several documents related to the business, which is missing. We are also questioning them to see if they know of Mansoor Khan’s whereabouts,” the SIT source added.
Meanwhile, investigators have learned that the Income Tax Department had notified several government agencies including Department of Commercial Tax, Company Registrar, Revenue Department, Co-operation Department, Bengaluru Police Department, CID, Enforcement Directorate and Customs Department of the search and seizure operations on IMA offices and Mansoor Khan’s home in 2017. On September 7, 2017 the issue of IMA’s suspected fraud was raised at the Regional Economic Intelligence meeting, where several policemen and bureaucrats were present, SIT sources say.
“We are trying to find out why no action was taken despite the intimation from Income Tax Department that Mansoor Khan’s IMA had misappropriated around Rs 1,000 worth assets,” the SIT source added.
“The Income Tax Department too has certain probative limitations and hence it had intimated other agencies to look into the issues relevant to their respective departments. The other agencies were supposed to carry out a probe into various dealings of the firm,” an I-T source said.