Nod given for prosecution of two Karnataka IPS officers, others in IMA ponzi scheme
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has given its nod to the CBI for the prosecution of two senior IPS officers and three other police personnel in the IMA Ponzi scheme in which over a lakh people were allegedly duped of more than Rs 4,000 crore after being promised higher returns using Islamic ways of investment.
These five had allegedly delayed and suppressed information after an inquiry, giving undue advantage to the I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) Ponzi scheme operator Mohammed Mansoor Khan and others associated with the scam that came to light in June last year, orders issued by the government said.
The government in its September 9 order accorded sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute Bengaluru Additional Commissioner Hemant Nimbalkar and Superintendent of Police rank officer Ajay Hilori.
Deputy superintendent of police E B Sridhar, inspector M Ramesh, and sub-inspector P Gowri Shankar are the others whose prosecution was cleared in a separate order on September 11.
According to the CBI, which took over the probe into the scam in August last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had flagged its concern and conveyed to the state Director General of Police about the wrongdoings of the Ponzi scheme operators.
Accordingly, the investigation was initially handed over to the Economic Offence Wing of the state CID and as the then head of it, Nimbalkar had supervised the probe conducted by Sridhar.
Nimbalkar endorsed the findings of the inquiry conducted by Sridhar and forwarded the report to the DG and IGP "in which he asserted that the IMA and its group entities are not financial establishments under the definition of Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors (KPID) Act" and recommended closure of the probe, the government order said.
The CBI has also charged him with allegedly resisting conducting a further inquiry into the matter as directed by the DGP.
"Hemant Nimbalkar, IPS, thus showed undue interest in order to favor Mohammed Mansoor Khan and IMA that he wanted to protect the activities of Mohammed N{ansoor Khan and save him from any action by Government under the KPID Act," the order stated further.
Regarding Hilori, the order said as the then DCP of Bengaluru East division he had "demanded and accepted illegal gratification on various occasions from Mohammed Mansoor Khan through Nizamuddin, Director and Operational Manager, IMA for favoring IMA by delaying the report to RBI and for not taking action in connivance with other public servants on various complaints against the company.
Hilori had allegedly accepted the furniture and interior items for his house from IMA when the matter was pending with him by misusing his official position. The others too had allegedly connived with these officers, the order said.
According to the CBI sources, the agency has registered four separate FIRs related to the scam and arrested around 25 people, including Khan, the directors, and others who benefited from the scheme.
The CBI in its charge sheet has alleged that when the state government received complaints about the shady activities of the IMA, it directed the district authorities to probe it.
The then deputy commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district B M Vijay Shankar, assistant commissioner L C Nagaraj and village accountant N Manjunath have already been booked for allegedly favoring the IMA operators.
While Shankar has allegedly died of suicide later, a charge sheet has been filed against Nagaraj and Manjunath.
The case came to light when Khan fled to Dubai, leaving behind a video message, saying that he was committing suicide because of "corruption in the state and central governments".
Khan was arrested on July 21 last year on his arrival in New Delhi.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
