BENGALURU: Soon after they finished celebrating Eid, thousands of investors in IMA Jewels were in for a shock. Just a few days after the festival, they are now staring at the possibility of never getting back the money they had parked with IMA Jewels for the promise of spectacular returns.
Since June 8, when promoter Mohammed Mansoor Khan left for Dubai, no one has been able to come up with an explanation as to how Mansoor managed to escape. Police say that he left for Dubai on June 8 after having cleared his showroom of all displayed jewels and diamonds. But ask them if he took the multi-crore booty with him, bypassing officials at the airport, and they have no answer. Several questions still exist on how Mansoor managed to pull off the perfect escape.
“There are too many loopholes in how he left the country. His cars were found at the airport but the driver - his man Friday- is missing. Mansoor was also questioned by the Central Crime Branch on June 6 and was warned of police action. He disappeared within 48 hours,” an officer said. Also suspect is his decision to put the blame on Congress MLA Roshan Baig, turning the entire development into a political potboiler. For investors, there is nothing but bad news for now according to the police themselves, who pointed out that in spite of red flags raised as far back as 2014, but even then no action was taken.
“The RBI had in 2014 itself red-flagged IMA on several markers. The police could have called for documents and questioned Mansoor, but they chose to look the other way,” a police officer said.
Discussing the hawala angle, the officer added, “It seems, prima facie, that Mansoor routed the depositor’s money outside the country through hawala. Many high bracket depositors would have used hawala to deposit black money in IMA,” the officer said.
Though the agencies have their work cut out for them, the volume is huge. “The manpower and resources given are limited, given the vast scope of the investigation,” the officer admitted.While the SIT may invoke the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act, 2004, critics of the law say it is neither punitive nor effective. Another law, the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019, could be invoked, earning the state the infamy of having the IMA scam as the first case to be booked under the ordinance.
“The government must hand over the case to the CBI. Most investments were done in cash, bullion and jewellery, raising serious national security concerns. They run into crores of rupees,” said a police officer, on condition of anonymity, adding that it was natural that the state would resist a CBI probe, considering the revelations of corruption that would result from one.
In response, the official police reaction has been to deny all interest in IMA till someone came ahead to file a complaint. “There were no complaints against IMA until June 9 when Mohammed Khalid Ahammed registered a complaint. People are to be blamed for investing in such companies,” said a police officer.
