IMA Jewels Scam: 7 directors held
Bengaluru: Seven directors of a firm at the centre of an alleged financial fraud that left thousands of investors in the lurch here were apprehended Wednesday even as a 11-member special investigation team was formed by the Karnataka government to probe the case.
The seven were picked up from different locations, highly-placed sources in the police told PTI.
Earlier in the day, the state government announced the setting up of the 11-member SIT, days after owner of IMA Jewellers Mohammed Mansoor Khan went absconding after allegedly threatening to commit suicide in an audio clip.
Police, who have registered a case against IMA Jewellers and Khan, said they have formed teams to trace him.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy tweeted on Wednesday, saying the SIT would be headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police B R Ravikanthe Gowda.
The other members of the team are Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) S Girish, Additional Commissioner of Police of the Central Crime Branch Balaraju and deputy commissioners of police K Ravishankar, Raja Imam Kasim and Abdul Khadar.
The SIT will have five police inspectors too.
As the audio of Khan went viral, panicked investors, most of whom are Muslims, swarmed the IMA Jewellers office at Shivajinagar in thousands demanding action against the owner and directors.
The investors camped at IMA Jewellers' office for the third consecutive day Wednesday, waiting for some progress in the case and to build pressure on the police and the government to get their money back.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police Rahul Kumar Shahapurwad said so far about 13,000 complaints had been received against the firm.
Ten counters had been set up to receive further complaints, he added.
Khan in an audio clip which went viral on the social media purportedly said he was committing suicide as he was fed up with corruption. He also alleged the Shivajinagar Congress MLA Roshan Baig took Rs 400 crore from him and was not returning it.
Rubbishing the charge, Baig alleged his political adversaries had orchestrated the "series of events" to tarnish his character.
"After my recent political fallouts, some of my adversaries have made a full-fledged attempt at assassinating my character by orchestrating a series of events using underhand methods. The entire hit job has been carried out using a baseless, un-investigated audio recording," he tweeted.
Baig, who aspires for a ministerial position, had recently rebelled against his party and held former chief minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao responsible for the party's poor show in the Lok Sabha election.
The Congress MLA urged the government to get the matter investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
He suspected the involvement of a Congress leader, who, he alleged, was sending people to mingle with the crowd gathered outside IMA Jewellers' office.
"I was informed that a good chunk of people seen at the protests outside IMA Jewels was mobilised to mix with the people who were actually aggrieved to intensify the situation by a politician who has been trying very hard to become the 'face of the community'," Baig tweeted.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too demanded a CBI inquiry.
"Is the government not able to see the sufferings of the investors? Doesn't it have eyes, ears and a heart? It should get the accused arrested if it has the guts or else, it should hand over the matter to the CBI," BJP MLA Eshwarappa said.
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Accused gunman at correspondents' dinner was believed to be targeting top officials, Blanche says
Washington (AP): The accused gunman who tried to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner with guns and knives travelled across the country before the event and is believed to have been targeting members of the Trump administration, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday.
Blanche also said officials believe the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where in recent days he checked in as a guest to the hotel where one of Washington's glitziest events was being held Saturday night.
Investigators have not publicly named the suspect, but two law enforcement officials familiar with the matter have identified him to The Associated Press as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California.
Law enforcement officials who have examined the gunman's electronic devices and his writings preliminarily believe he intended to target administration members in attendance at the dinner. He attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a chaotic scene that resulted in shots being fired, President Donald Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.
“It does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche told NBC's “Meet the Press.”
The suspect is believed to have purchased the firearms he carried within the last couple of years, Blanche said. He is not being cooperative and is expected to face multiple charges on Monday.
Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering, officials said. The gunman was taken into custody and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.
“He failed,” Blanche said on CBS's “Face the Nation.” “Law enforcement did their jobs.”
Social media posts that appear to match the suspect show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.
A May 2025 profile photo of Allen appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted Saturday night by Trump. The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master's degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Allen earned a bachelor's degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.
The shooting at the security barricades happened minutes after the event got underway.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the room as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. Gasps echoed through the ballroom as guests realized something was happening. Hundreds of journalists immediately got on phones to call in information.
“Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as the president was escorted offstage. Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.
After an initial attempt to resume the event, it was scrapped for the night and will be rescheduled.
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