The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday raided the Bengaluru residence of former Congress Minister Roshan Baig, who was arrested by the federal agency in connection with a 2.5 billion rupee ponzi scheme on Sunday.
A team of 12 CBI officials have been searching the Baig facility in Coles Park since morning. The seven-time MLA was arrested on Sunday after being questioned for nearly 10 hours and has been placed in judicial custody for 14 days. He is currently housed in the Parapanna Agrahara prison.
Karnataka-based I Monetary Advisors (IMA), an investment firm purportedly run in compliance with Islamic banking rules, collapsed in May last year after it was unable to return deposits or dividends on deposits it had illegally accepted. . IMA co-founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan at the time of his arrest alleged that Baig had cheated him out of 400 million rupees and forced him to give away expensive cars and jewelry. He had also appointed some other government officials.
The former minister then rejected the charge and claimed that, except for some donations to the Haj facilitation centers, he had not accepted money. More than 51,500 depositors are said to have lost roughly Rs 2.5 billion raised by IMA and its subsidiaries in the ponzi scheme.
The then coalition government of Congress and JD (S) had formed a special investigation team to investigate the matter in September 2019. However, the BJP government that came to power later turned the case over to the CBI. The CBI has prosecuted an IAS officer, two IPS officers, a KAS officer and a corporate officer as defendants, among others, in the case after the state government gave permission to prosecute them.
Baig was suspended from the Congress party in June 2019 after he criticized opposition leader Siddaramaiah and then-KPCC chairman Dinesh Gundu Rao. Baig had also tried to join the BJP. However, he was not included in BS Yediyurappa’s party, unlike 16 other disqualified legislators from Congress and JDS, whose revolt led to the collapse of the HD Kumarasamy-led coalition government last year.
(With contributions from the agency)
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