PRAMESH S JAIN
The special investigation team (SIT) headed by DIG,Dr.BR Ravikanthe Gowda and his eleven member team under the supervision of DCP Crime Girish S and team probing the Multi-crore Fraud Case of IMA ponzi scheme in Bengaluru on Tuesday arrested Ishtiaq Ahmed aka Pailwan,a history sheeter and the husband of Shivajinagar ward corporator Farida.
Investigation by the SIT team revealed that Ishtiyaq Ahmed alias Pailwan had extorted Rs 2 crore from IMA founder and Managing Director Mohammed Mansoor Khan.He was arrested based on Khan has mentioned in a book the details of how much he has paid to several people.Based on that,Pailwan was picked up for questioning and was left but after gathering clinching and concrete evidence against him as he had received hafta from Khan.A detailed investigation by team it is established that Ishtiyaq Ahmed alias Pailwan had taken Rs 2 crore as hafta (protection money) from IMA founder Mansoor Khan as the cops grilled who spilled the beans and confessed to accepting Rs.2 Crore from IMA founder Mansoor Khan.
Ishtiyaq Ahmed has a criminal history since 1993 and is involved in at least 48 criminal cases registered across the city.He was also arrested in 2018 for extorting restaurants in and around Shivajinagar and his name had also come up when the Ambidant case came up. Ambidant was the first high profile Halal ponzi scheme that made news with the arrest of tainted mining baron and former minister Gali Janardhana Reddy.
In connection with the IMA case, the SIT has already arrested former Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner Vijay Shankar (IAS), Assistant Commissioner of the Revenue Department LC Nagaraj,BDA Executive Engineer Kumar, Nominated corporator Syed Mujahid, two religious preacher,village accountant Manjunath,Chartered Accountant Iqbal Khan 12 directors among others.
Meanwhile, a 72-year-old chartered accountant (CA) for the IMA firm has been arrested by the SIT for allegedly submitting false information to government agencies.
Iqbal Khan, a resident of Berley Street in Shantinagar, is the arrested CA.He used to file the returns of IMA to Income Tax, Registrar of Companies and other government agencies. It has been found that he fudged the accounts of the firm and submitted it to the agencies and projected the firm as a profit-making one. Hence, he has been arrested said SIT officials.
The then DCP East,Dr.Ajay Hillori,IPS,who was earlier serving as Deputy commissioner of police,Ramesh Kumar, who was assistant commissioner of police,and inspector Ramesh, have been asked to be present on August 2,4 and 6 respectively for questioning without fail. The team wants to seek clarifications from them on the allegation that they had extended help in various ways to main accused in IMA scam, Mansoor Khan.
Meanwhile MLA,Zameer Ahmed appeared before SIT officers for enquiry he was grilled by SIT Chief,DIG,Dr.BR Ravikanthe Gowda and DCP Crime,Girish S,he was grilled for about 8 hours by them he was questioned regarding his property sold to you IMA founder Mansoor Khan and is there is any illegal transactions happened in between them the officers questioned him about the property how he sold and how he knew Mansoor Khan Zameer Ahmed Khan said he purchased the Richmond road property for Rs.3 Crore with papers through Mujahid and through him only he met Mansoor Khan the IMA founder and sold the property through Mujahid to Mansoor Khan for Rs. 9 Crore rupees as the property was in litigation and now it is been cleared in the court he said and he even said in some Iftiyar party I met him I don’t know him personally and I even don’t have any relationship with him and the documents related to property purchased and sold has been taken for verification and whenever you call for inquiry will appear before you and will Co-operate with investigation Zameer Ahmed Khan told SIT officers during interrogation.
Meanwhile R Roshan Baig today again skipped inquiry citing health reasons,he sought time to appear.SIT will issue further notice to appear date will be intimated SIT Chief told media persons.
Meanwhile Mansoor Khan is in Enforcement Directorate Custody till 1st August and during the interrogation the ED grilled the kingpin prime accused Mansoor who has revealed that he has paid to many politicians and bureaucrats and to even 10 IPS officers he has revealed all the details to ED officers who are planning to issue notice and are gathering more information and evidence based on his statement as the ED and SIT has recovered laptop and his computers in which all the details are mentioned to whom and he has paid and SIT has also prepared a list 80 people who are involved in this scam till today more than 25 people have been arrested in this scam.
In the meantime,the high court,which has been approached by a number of petitioners seeking to hand over IMA scam investigation to Central Bureau of Investigation,adjourned them to Thursday. They have been referred to a division bench of the high court with Chief Justice, A S Oka, and Justice P M Nawaz as its members.
