IMA ponzi scam: SIT questions Roshan Baig, orders him to return for more on July 19July 16 (AZINS) Rebel Congress MLA Roshan Baig has been asked to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the IMA ponzi scam on July 19. Baig had been taken into custody at the Bengaluru airport on Monday night as he was about to board a chartered flight.
SIT chief Ravikante Gowda said Baig was questioned for a while and then allowed to go with the instruction that he needs to appear before it again on July 19. Baig had earlier skipped an earlier skipped a notice from the SIT to appear before it on July 11. He had again skipped a meeting with the SIT on Monday, saying he had important work and asking that he be allowed to appear before the SIT on July 25.
Baig is mired in the IMA ponzi scam after IMA founder Mohammad Mansoor Khan blamed his company's misfortune on him. Khan had said he was unable to pay his investors back because Baig was refusing to return Rs 400 crore he had allegedly taken in expectation of a Congress ticket for the Lok Sabha election. Baig had failed to secure the ticket.
Khan went into hiding and released a video clip where he claimed he had fled because his life was in danger.
The IMA ponzi scam has affected thousands of small investors, who had parked their savings in the company on the promise of high rates of return. Most of the victims were Muslim.
Baig's detention by the SIT also comes amid the ongoing political crisis in Karnataka, where MLAs of the ruling Congress-JDS combine are jumping ship, with some joining the BJP. The Kumaraswamy government is scrambling to ensure it has a majority, which seems to be becoming an increasingly uphill task. So, every MLA in its corner matters.
To complicate matters, the Congress had suspended Baig after he levelled stinging criticism at the party leadership for its debacle in the Lok Sabha election.