A day after he was arrested by officials of the Enforcement Directorate, IMA Jewels Founder and Managing Director Mansoor Khan, who had fled India last month after being named in a ‘halal’ ponzi scheme scam, was brought to Bengaluru on Saturday. He was taken to Victoria Hospital for a medical examination and is scheduled to be produced before a PMLA court on Saturday. Mansoor Khan may be taken to the ED office in Shanthinagar for questioning.
Mansoor has been accused of running a ‘halal’ ponzi scheme – where the money is diverted from new investors to older investors – in the name of I Monetary Advisory (IMA). He fled India around June 13, when the scam surfaced, and investigators believe he is in hiding in Dubai. He absconded over a month ago. He has been accused of cheating 40,000 investors to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore. In a video he published on Monday, he had said that he was unwell and that he would be returning to India within 24 hours.
On Friday, SIT head and Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) told TNM that the officials had tracked Mansoor Khan to Dubai and had arranged for his return to India.
"Once we tracked him down, our sources convinced him to surrender himself. He arrived at New Delhi at 1.55 am," Ravikante Gowda said.
Till date, SIT has arrested 19 people, including IAS officer and former Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner Vijay Shankar (IAS), Assistant Commissioner of the Revenue Department LC Nagaraj, BDA Executive Engineer Kumar, city corporator Syed Mujahid, one religious preacher and village accountant Manjunath. Others include the 12 directors of IMA.
On July 17, the SIT probing the multi-crore scam detained Karnataka MLA R Roshan Baig, who was named in the first video that Mansoor Khan had released. Baig was released from detention after he was quizzed by SIT officials for over 9 hours. Baig has maintained innocence in the case.