Bengaluru: Hours after the Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig resigned from the assembly, Special Investigation Team (SIT) summoned him in relation to the IMA money laundering case.
Baig was suspended from Congress for his alleged anti-party activities and comments against party leaders.
The SIT team was set up after an audio clip in which IMA jewels Mohammed Mansoor Khan allegedly threatened to commit suicide went viral on the social media. He said that he was fed up with corruption and accused Shivajinagar Congress MLA Roshan Baig of taking Rs 400 crore from him and was not returning it. Following this, the State government announced that a 1-member SIT would be set up to nab Khan.
Baig, however, rubbished the accusation, and alleged that his enemies had linked his name to tarnish his character.
Mansoor Khan is absconding leaving thousands of investors, mostly Muslims, in the lurch. It has been reported that people from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra and even Delhi had invested their money in the scheme.
Several IMA showrooms were raided by the SIT and cash, gold, silver, valuable gems and costly perfumes were recovered. So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the case. Deputy commissioner of Bengaluru urban district B M Vijay Shankar and assistant commissioner of Bengaluru North sub-division L C Nagaraj are among those arrested. The two had allegedly taken Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 4 crore, respectively, from Mansoor Khan to cover up the case, after the Reserved Bank of India expressed concern about the functioning of the firm.