IMA fraud case: ED attaches assets worth Rs 209 crore under PMLA
Benagluru/New Delhi: The ED Friday attached assets worth Rs 209 crore in its money laundering probe into a ponzi scam involving Karnataka's IMA group, in which thousands of depositors have allegedly been duped.
The central agency said its Bengaluru zonal office has issued a provisional order, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, for attachment of immovable assets worth Rs 197 crore and about Rs 12 crore deposits kept in bank accounts.
The total amount of the attachment is about Rs 209 crore, it said.
The agency recently filed a criminal case of money laundering against the IMA group of companies and its absconding main promoter and Managing Director Mohammed Mansoor Khan after reports emerged that he has gone underground fearing investments worth crores of about 40,000 investors have tanked.
According to a statement issued by the Enforcement Directorate, the "accused companies and its directors have indulged in the offence of money laundering by cheating common people through ponzi schemes and generated the proceeds of crime in the form of movable and immovable properties."
Khan, it said, had promised returns ranging from 2.5 to 3 per cent month to the investors, who are mainly from the Muslim community. The scam had come to light after a video of his purported statement claiming that the investments have been lost surfaced.
The ED had summoned Khan multiple times but he did not depose before the agency and it is suspected that he has left the country. The agency is working towards getting an Interpol arrest warrant issued against him and get him declared a fugitive economic offender by a court.
The Karnataka government has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) of the police to probe the case.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
No need for guv: DMK leader Kanimozhi
Chennai (PTI): Senior DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi on Friday reiterated her party’s opposition to the office of the governor amid uncertainty over government formation in Tamil Nadu after a fractured election mandate.
Speaking to PTI Videos, Kanimozhi emphasised that the DMK’s demand for the abolition of the governor’s post remained unchanged, especially as questions arise over constitutional propriety during the current political transition.
"Our position that we do not need a governor at all is something the DMK has never changed at any point in time," she said.
When asked about the governor’s actions following the election results—particularly the delay in inviting the leading party to form the government—Kanimozhi pointed to what she described as the "inherent friction" between the office of the governor and the political interests of the state.
She said the current situation "raises a lot of questions" and requires introspection regarding constitutional procedures.
Kanimozhi described the election results as lacking a "clear mandate", which she identified as the primary reason for the prevailing political uncertainty in the state.
"What the people decide is supreme," she said, adding that while the mandate was not decisive, it must be respected.
The Thoothukudi MP attributed the ongoing delays and "many confusions" to the absence of a decisive majority for any single party.
She firmly dismissed rumours about the DMK potentially supporting the AIADMK from outside to help stabilise the government.
She described such reports as mere "speculation" and "rumours".
"We can’t be responding to every rumour," she said, declining to comment on the AIADMK’s claims regarding its numbers to form the government.
The political situation in Tamil Nadu remains fluid as stakeholders await the governor’s next constitutional step in an Assembly where no party has secured a clear majority.
The DMK and AIADMK—both of which suffered significant losses to the TVK—are reportedly exploring tactical manoeuvres to navigate the hung Assembly.
The TVK, with 108 seats and the support of Congress’s five MLAs, is still short of the majority mark. The DMK and AIADMK secured 59 and 47 seats, respectively.
