In another development in the probe in the Rs 4,000-crore I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) ponzi scam in Bengaluru, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday raided two senior Income Tax sleuths in Bengaluru. Three other middlemen associated with the company were also probed, officials said.
The two I-T officers who were probed worked as the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (DCIT) and Assistance Commissioner of Income Tax (ACIT) in the Income Tax Department (Investigation Wing/Assessment Wing), Bengaluru when the scam broke, reported The Hindu.
According to reports, the raids were carried out in eight locations across Karnataka and neighbouring Tamil Nadu. Five of the locations were in Bengaluru and the other three in Karwar, Hosur and Salem.
A press release issued by the central probe agency has found that these two officials had earlier carried out a search of IMA’s accounts in 2017. The CBI is probing an allegation that the two officers failed to take coercive action against the deduction of TDS on interest payments and the huge cash payment entries in the books of accounts of IMA group.
Further, it is alleged that the accounts of IMA which was frozen following the I-T search were unfrozen after they were allegedly paid huge bribes.
This development comes after the CBI, earlier this month, had sought the sanction to prosecute six Karnataka officials, including two senior IPS officers posted in the state, in connection with the case.
The CBI has written to the Karnataka government seeking a nod for prosecuting IPS officers Hemant Nimbalkar of 1998 batch and Ajay Hilori of 2008 batch. The residences of the two officers were also searched by the CBI earlier this year.
While Nimbalkar was posted as the then Inspector General of Economic Offences, Hilori was the then Deputy Commissioner of East Bengaluru, the sources said.
Besides, the CBI has also sought similar sanction for the then Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID) EB Sridhara, Inspector and SHO Commercial Street Police Station M Ramesh and sub-inspector of the station P Gowrishankar and the then Assistant Commissioner Bengaluru North Sub Division LC Nagaraj.
Sridhara was the inquiry officer and Hemant Nimbalkar was the supervisory officer in the enquiry done by CID EOW (Economic offences wing) into activities of IMA group entities, CBI officials had previously said.