Bengaluru: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday raided the residence of former Congress Minister Roshan Baig in connection with the Rs 1,500 crore I Monetary Advisory’s (IMA) Ponzi scam case. Over 30,000 people reportedly lost crores of rupees by investing in IMA.
Prior to the raid, Baig was taken to custody by the CBI.
The CBI search operations were conducted on a suspicion that he possessed disproportionate assets from the money received from IMA.
During the initial investigations, Mohammed Mansoor Khan, the founder of IMA and prime accused in the scam, had allegedly confessed to the CBI that he had given Baig a loan of Rs 200 crore, which was never returned.
The CBI is currently in the process of finding out where the Rs 200 crore went and wants to recover assets of the accused persons in the case.
Sources said that CBI is likely to attach Roshan Baig’s properties in order to repay the money to investors as Mansoor Khan allegedly claimed that he was forced to pay crores Baig in order to keep the business going smoothly.
In 2019 Baig was detained by the SIT as he had tried to board a private charter plane to a foreign country. The SIT had alleged that Baig was trying to flee the country.
Baig is a seven-time MLA of the Muslim-dominated Shivajinagar constituency in Bengaluru. He was among the 17 MLAs of the erstwhile JD(S)-Congress coalition government who resigned and paved the way for the formation of the current BS Yediyurappa-led government in the state.
On Sunday, Baig was questioned for over 7 hours after his arrest by the CBI.
In the IMA ponzi scam, Gulf-returned Mansoor Khan has duped over 30,000 people. While the returns on investment were paid out as promised initially, investors’ belief in Khan faded after 2017. The returns shrunk first from 9% to 5% to settle at a paltry 3% since mid-2018. It then reached 1% in early 2019 before the company shut shop.
