The Special Investigation Team probing the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam detained Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig on Monday whilst he was trying to leave the city and was allegedly on his way to Mumbai.
According to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Roshan Baig was being ushered into a private chartered aircraft on Monday evening when sleuths nabbed him at Kempegowda International Airport.
Roshan Baig was allegedly being ushered into the aircraft by BJP State President BS Yeddyurappa's PA NR Santosh when the SIT nabbed him.
"Baig was detained for questioning at the Kempegowda International Airport when he was about to take off in a private aircraft to an unconfirmed destination from Bengaluru," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) BR Ravikantha Gowda said in a statement on late Monday night
Today SIT probing the #IMA case detained @rroshanbaig for questioning at the BIAL airport while he was trying leave along with @BSYBJP's PA Santosh on a chartered flight to Mumbai. I was told that on seeing the SIT, Santhosh ran away while the team apprehended Mr. Baig. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/MmyH4CyVfP
— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) July 15, 2019
The investigation team had granted Roshan Baig time till July 19 to appear before them for questioning. However, SIT sources told TNM that Roshan Baig had sent a letter to the investigators stating that he would not be able to appear for questioning until July 25 and sought more time.
SIT officials suspected that Baig would abscond if given the opportunity, and hence decided to detain him.
Calling Baig's alleged attempt to flee an attempt by the BJP to destabilise the coalition government by indulging in horse-trading, the Chief Minister said, "BJP MLA Yogeshwar was present at the time there (at the time of Baig's detainment). It’s a shame that BJP is helping a former minister escape, who is facing a probe in the IMA case. This clearly shows BJP's direct involvement in destabilizing the govt through horse-trading.”
Kumaraswamy also alleged that NR Santosh fled the spot when the SIT arrived at the airport to detain Roshan Baig.
In June, Roshan Baig was suspended by the Congress for anti-party activities. Prior to his suspension from the party, Roshan Baig had blamed former CM Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress national general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, KC Venugopal, for the alleged failure of the coalition government.
Soon after his statement, his name surfaced in the IMA Scam in the audio clips left behind by one of IMA’s founders, Mohammed Mansoor Khan, when he absconded.
Soon after the news of the scam broke out, Revenue Minister RV Deshpande stated that Roshan Baig had requested officials from the Revenue Department to grant Mansoor Khan a no-objection certificate for a Rs 600 crore bailout. However, Deshpande had stated that the revenue officials had not complied with the demand.
Contrary to Deshpande's claims, earlier this month, the SIT arrested the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district Vijaya Shankar, the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) LC Nagaraj and an executive engineer with the Bangalore Development Authority, PD Kumar Nayak, for allegedly accepting crores of rupees as bribe to write a favourable report for IMA in an RBI inquiry.