The CBI detained Roshan Baig for questioning on Sunday morning.
The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested former Congressional Minister Roshan Baig on Sunday in connection with Scam I case, Monetary Advisory. Mohammed Mansoor Khan has been accused of misleading more than 30,000 million rupee investors in a Ponzi scam, where he mainly promised to invest his money in the gold market.
Roshan Baig, the former military player from Shivajinagar in Bengaluru, was accused of assisting the first defendant Mohammed Mansoor Khan to flee the country when the scam broke out. On Sunday, the CBI conducted search and seizure operations at Roshan Baig’s residence in Bengaluru and detained him. He was being questioned at the CBI office in Bengaluru. He was arrested Sunday night.
In 2019, the Special Investigation Team, which was investigating the case, detained Roshan Baig after his name appeared on the case. The first defendant of Mohammed Mansoor Khan and owner of IMA, had alleged in a video that Roshan Baig had extorted him.
After the video was uploaded to YouTube, Roshan Baig was detained by SIT while trying to board a private charter plane to a foreign country. The SIT had alleged that Baig was trying to flee the country. When the scam broke out in 2019, then-Finance Minister RV Deshpande had said that Roshan Baig had introduced him to Mansoor Khan in July of that year, asking for favors not to investigate the companies’ dealings as suggested by the RBI.
In 2015, the RBI had asked the Karnataka government to investigate the IMA deals. Karnataka police had said that IMA had not violated any regulations as all the investors were partners in the company. Dissatisfied with the government’s response, RBI had once again asked the government to investigate the case. The state government reopened the investigation in November 2018.
In all, around 25 people were arrested in connection with the scam, including Mohammed Mansoor Khan, the kingpin. These also include former Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner North Taluk LC Nagaraj and former Village Accountant Manjunath N. On a supplementary charge sheet in the same case, 28 defendants were named, including senior IPS officials Hemant Nimbalkar and Ajay Hilori. In addition to the two IPS officers, former Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID) EB Sridhara, Commercial Street Police Station Inspector and Officer M Ramesh, and Police Station Deputy Inspector P Gowrishankar are also listed as defendants.
Former Bengaluru Urban DC Vijay Shankar, who was also arrested by the SIT and named a defendant, died in June in an alleged suicide case.
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