IMA scam: 6 Directors surrender to police

Bengaluru: A day after a controversial audio clip purportedly by Mansoor Khan, the MD of I Monetary Advisory (IMA), accusing Shivaji Nagar MLA Roshan Baig of harassment went viral, six absconding directors of the group surrendered before the police.

Meanwhile hundreds of panic-striken investors continued to throng the IMA office at Shivaji Nagar on Tuesday..

The probe into the Rs 2000-crore scam, the biggest in the state so far, will be handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Wednesday.

The directors who surrendered before the city police have been identified as Nasir Hussain, Naveed Ahmed Nattamkar, Nizammuddin Azeemuddin, Afshan Tabassum, Afsar Pasha and Arshad Khan. The police had questioned the directors on the whereabouts of Mansoor Khan, who remains at large.

According to sources at IMA, Mansoor had visited the IMA showroom and its investment office on June 4. That was the last time the employees saw him.

It is also learnt that Mansoor held a meeting with the directors on that day and the police believe they know his whereabouts.

There are also reports that Mansoor was sighted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. However, the police have refused to comment on it.

It is not yet confirmed whether the voice in audio is that of Mansoor's. If it is his voice, it is yet to be ascertained whether he took the extreme step, as claimed in the audio, or was it a drama to mislead investors and police.

Meanwhile, in just two days thousands of police complaints have been filed against IMA and its MD.

In the audio clip, Mansoor had claimed that Baig had borrowed Rs 400 crore and accused the MLA of threatening him when he asked him to repay the amount. Mr Baig has, however, denied the allegations.

The first cheating complaint was lodged by Mohammad Khalid, a civil contractor, accusing Mansoor of duping him of Rs 4.8 crore. In his complaint lodged at the Commercial Street police station on Sunday, Khalid stated that he had invested Rs 1.3 crore in IMA in 2016, and built a residential apartment worth Rs 3.5 crore, but Mansoor is yet to pay the money for the flat.

Meanwhile, the police are obtaining CCTV footages and call details of Mansoor to track them.

Another audio surfaces
Meanwhile, another audio clip was doing rounds on WhatsApp on Thursday. In this clip a man claiming to be Mansoor tells investors that he was alive
and there was no need to panic. In this audio too the speaker accuses Mr Baig of conspiring against him, which forced him to run away. The police are verifying both the audios.