7 directors of entities linked to IMA Jewels founder Mansoor Khan arrested

Police on Thursday arrested seven directors of different entities linked to the founder of an investment firm accused of allegedly perpetrating financial fraud in Bengaluru on Thursday.

The directors of entities owned by IMA Jewels founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan were arrested by the police. It is alleged that IMA Jewels, with Muslims as its prime investors, has not paid interests on investments for the last three months.

Khan disappeared four days ago after sending an audio clip to some investors threatening to commit suicide due to what he alleged "harassment of some politicians and rowdies".

Currently, shops of IMA Jewels in Shivaji Nagar are closed and there is no whereabout of Khan and firms' other authorities.

Karnataka government has constituted an 11-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged fraud by the firm, which has an estimated Rs 200 crore investment of Muslim women alone.

Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said on Twitter that the SIT would be headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police B R Ravikanthe Gowda. 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 are other members of the team.

Police have also registered a case against IMA Jewels and Khan and teams have been formed to nab him.

Scores of investors staged protests outside IMA Jewels' office in Sivaji Nagar, demanding the firm to return their money.

Meanwhile, a man identified as Abdul Pasha who had invested Rs 8 lakh in the firm died due to a heart attack in Hesaraghatta.

IMA founder Khan, in the said audio clip sent to investors, alleged that rebel Congress MLA Roshan Baig had taken Rs 400 crore and was not paying back.

Baig, who aspires to become a minister in the state, rubbished the claims and termed it as an attempt to "assassinate 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 underhanded methods. The entire hitjob has been carried out using a baseless, un-investigated audio recording," he tweeted.