IMA scam: CBI files charge sheet against six persons

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against a former executive engineer of the Bangalore Development Authority for allegedly receiving Rs 5 crore from I-Monetary Advisory (IMA), which is facing a probe in a Rs 4,000-crore scam, to help the company get a clean chit from the Karnataka revenue department, officials said on Friday (March 12).

Bengaluru: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against six persons, including the then Executive Engineer of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in connection with an I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Group Ponzi scam case.

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against a former executive engineer of the Bangalore Development Authority for allegedly receiving Rs 5 crore from I-Monetary Advisory (IMA), which is facing a probe in a Rs 4,000-crore scam, to help the company get a clean chit from the Karnataka revenue department, officials said on Friday (March 12).

In its charge sheet filed before the principal sessions judge for CBI cases, Bengaluru, the agency has named former-BDA executive engineer P D Kumar, CEO and MD of IMA Group Mohammed Mansoor Khan, directors of the company Nizamuddin Ahamed, Vaseem, Naveed Ahmed, Nazir Hussain, and the company itself.

The probe has shown that a bribe of Rs 5 crore (approx) was allegedly paid in four instalments - two of Rs 1.5 crore and two of Rs 1 crore during April-May 2019 - by the directors of the said group of entities (IMA), CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said in a statement.

The CBI had earlier filed several charge sheets in connection with the scam. This is a multi-crore scam that allegedly involved unauthorised deposits collected from a large number of depositors. The investigations are continuing on a day-to-day basis," Joshi said.

The CBI, in its charge sheet, has alleged that Mr Khan was waiting for the report to be accepted to evade legal proceedings. The accused contacted the executive engineer, who demanded ₹5 crores for getting the job done.

“However, the said report was not accepted by the then Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, and instead, it was sent to the Law Department for an opinion and on not being satisfied with the report, he referred it to the Director-General of Police, Karnataka, to conduct the further enquiry in the matter,” said the agency.

As the objective was not achieved, Mr Khan and the directors put pressure on the accused BDA official to return the bribe amount. He allegedly paid back ₹30 lakh and also issued two cheques of his savings account for ₹2 crores and ₹2.5 crores, as security till the remaining amount was returned. The CBI has recovered the two cheques.

“Several WhatsApp chats between the said executive engineer and the said directors about the file movement, gate digital-access logs showing different entry and statements of several witnesses have been gathered,” said the agency.