Close to two years since the I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) ponzi scam based out of Bengaluru came to light, the competent authority in the case has said that some victims would get partial compensation starting from Friday. This development comes as the special court hearing the case insisted that claims of less than Rs 50,000 should be dealt with on a priority basis.
The Times of India quoted Harsh Gupta, special officer and competent authority in the case saying that 3,500 of 11,492 depositors will get up to Rs 50,000, as applicable on a case to case basis. Gupta added that while the authorities had confiscated properties worth Rs 475 crore, only Rs 6.5 crore was attached by the special court in the case.
The TOI report said that with a collection of only Rs 6.5 crore, the authorities have decided to pay 3,500 people first. They need a total of Rs 32 crore to pay 11,492 victims who emerged as eligible for a payout up to Rs 50,000.
As reported earlier, the scam had affected nearly 40,000 investors, many of whom were middle and lower-middle class Muslims who had invested in the ‘halal’ scheme.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was given charge over the case, had recently chargesheeted Karnataka government officials including IAS and IPS officers in connection with the case.
Then Bengaluru Additional Commissioner Hemant Nimbalkar and Superintendent of Police rank officer Ajay Hilori were among those who were named. Deputy superintendent of police EB Sridhar, inspector M Ramesh and sub-inspector P Gowri Shankar are among other police officers who were accused in the case. The then Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district BM Vijay Shankar (IAS), assistant commissioner LC Nagaraj and village accountant N Manjunath were also booked for allegedly favouring the IMA operators.