ED gets IMA chief’s custody till July 31
Bengaluru: Mohammed Mansoor Khan, the alleged mastermind of the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam, will remain in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for five more days.
ED officers produced 47-year-old Khan before the principal city civil and sessions court judge, Shivashankar B Amarannavar, on Friday and sought his custody until July 31.
KM Nataraj, the additional solicitor general representing the ED, stated that the central government agency could not conduct a detailed interrogation of Khan as he had complained of chest pain last week. The ED needs to examine many online financial transactions pertaining to IMA and Khan and collect evidence, he said and pleaded for more time. The counsel for the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the investment scam, objected to the ED’s plea, saying it needs to interrogate Khan so as to submit a report to the high court by July 30. The judge, however, accepted the ED’s plea.
The principal city civil and sessions court judge has granted bail to Bengaluru North’s former deputy commissioner B M Vijay Shankar, Bengaluru North assistant commissioner L C Nagaraj and four others but rejected the bail applications of 17 others.
The court directed Shankar, Nagaraj and the four others to not influence the witnesses or destroy evidence in the case.
Shankar and Nagaraj are accused of taking bribes from IMA in exchange for submitting favourable reports to the state government.