BENGALURU: I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Managing Director Mohammed Mansoor Khan, the kingpin in the multi-crore investment scam, was produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here on Saturday which sent him to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till July 23.
Khan, who was arrested at the New Delhi airport by ED when he arrived from Dubai in the early hours of Friday, was brought to the city on Saturday morning and produced before the court. ED sleuths had obtained a transit remand for Khan from Duty Magistrate Harjit Singh Jaspal at his residence late Friday night in New Delhi.
As Khan was produced before the court, the Special Investigation (SIT) probing the IMA investment scam in which over 50,000 investors were duped of over Rs 4,000 crore, demanded police custody of Khan on the grounds that they had arrested 21 accused in the case and Khan’s custody was required considering the number of complaints filed against him and his firm, and the involvement of big names in the scam. However, the court sent him to ED custody.
ED had registered a case of money laundering against Khan and on June 28 attached assets of IMA group worth Rs 209 crore which included Rs197 crore immovable properties, Rs 98 lakh from 51 bank accounts and Rs 11 crore from HDFC Bank held under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme.
During the investigation, the ED analysed 105 bank accounts of IMA group with various private banks and cooperative societies and found that Mansoor Khan had received about Rs 4,000 crore in investments.
Khan fled the country on June 7 leaving thousands of investors in the lurch. He had released an audio clip before fleeing in which he threatened to commit suicide following harassment from Shivajinagar MLA R. Roshan Baig and accused him of taking Rs 400 crore and not returning it.
The audio clip went viral on June 10 following which the investors rushed to the jurisdictional Commercial Street police station and filed complaints against Khan and IMA. So far, nearly 50,000 complaints have been filed. A lookout notice was issued against Khan by both SIT and ED. The SIT located Khan in Dubai through its sources and persuaded him to come back to India and stand trial. Khan landed in New Delhi at 1:50 am.
Before travelling to India,Khan had released two videos in which he had said he would return and appear before the investigating agencies. He had also said that he had a list of people involved in the business and those who took bribes and extorted money from him.
