BENGALURU : The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a supplementary chargesheet against 28 accused in the estimated Rs 4,000 crore I Monetary Advisory (IMA) fraud case before the designated court in the city. The accused include two serving IPS officers — Hemant Nimbalkar, Additional Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City (Administration), and Ajay Hilori, Superintendent of Police, Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP).
The others who have been chargesheeted include M Ramesh, then police inspector of Commercial Street police station, Bengaluru; Gowri Shankar, then sub-inspector at the same police station; E B Sridhara, then DySP (CID-Economic offences wing); Mohammed Mansoor Khan, MD and CEO, IMA (who is in jail); L C Nagaraj, then Assistant Commissioner, Bengaluru North sub-division, some private individuals and entities related to the IMA scam.
The CBI has alleged in the supplementary chargesheet that the then revenue officer, late Vijayshankar and police officials had closed the enquiries/verifications conducted by them into the complaints and information received against IMA.
The accused did not take necessary action under law, including the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment (KPIDFE) Act, 2004, and instead gave a clean chit and recommended closure of the complaints stating that IMA had not indulged in any illegal acts.
The CBI also alleged that IMA’s illegal activities continued and several thousands of investors lost crores of rupees. It had registered four cases and had earlier filed several chargesheets. “The Department in November 2018 issued a public notice, warning investors against the IMA, following which, Mansoor Khan had issued a public rejoinder and started releasing full-page advertisements in newspapers. The matter was referred to the CID,” said an officer.