CBI searches premises of I-T officials in IMA scam

The officers are then Deputy Commissioner, Income Tax (Investigation), Saurabh Nayak, and ACIT (Assessment) D Kumar, they said.

It is suspected that the two officers allegedly favoured IMA chief Mansoor Khan and turned a Nelson's eye to his questionable transactions, they said.

Five places were searched in Bengaluru, and one each in Karvar, Salem and Hosur, they said.

The search also covered the premises of three private persons — Asish Jain, Kiran Pamidi and Kaizer Basha, they said.

It is alleged that Nayak and Kumar conducted searches at the offices of IMA and assessed its accounts in 2017, they said.

But the officers allegedly did not take action on irregularities in the deduction of TDS on interest payment by the company and ignored huge cash payment entries in the account books, they said.

The CBI has found that the accounts of IMA which were frozen after Income Tax searches in 2017 were defrozen, they said.

The agency suspects huge bribes were paid to the I-T officers by Khan for the alleged omission, they said.

CBI probe has shown that IMA group entities headed by Mansoor Khan had raised illegal and unauthorised deposits in an alleged in dishonest and fraudulent manner from innocent investors to the tune of over Rs 4,000 crore, the sources said.

As on date over Rs 3,000 crore are outstanding in the form of principal amount and interest in respect of 76,000 investors, they said.

Further investigation is continuing to unearth larger conspiracy, money trail, end beneficiaries and diversion of funds, they said.

The CBI has already filed two charge sheets against 22 accused, including directors, chartered accountants, middlemen and the company and its sister concerns The CBI had booked Mohammed Mansoor Khan, managing director of the company, and others pursuant to the notifications issued by the Karnataka government and the government of India, the officials said.

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 19 on his arrival in New Delhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and is currently in judicial custody.

He had allegedly promised returns ranging from 2.5 to 3 per cent per month to the investors, who are mainly from the Muslim community.

The Karnataka government has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) of the police to probe the case before handing it over to the CBI.