IMA chief offers to surrender, says he fears he will be killed

Three days afer the Enforcement Directorate summoned him, absconding IMA chief Mansoor Khan in a video clip on Sunday purportedly offered to surrender before the police and reveal ‘big names’, who he alleged were behind its downfall and feared they would kill him.

IMA Jewels has allegedly cheated a large number of investors after promising them good returns on their deposits. The firm allegedly has not paid interests on investments for the last three months. Khan disappeared earlier this month after sending an audio clip to some investors, threatening to commit suicide due to alleged “harassment” by some politicians and rowdies.

“I want to return to support the public and furnish all details before the police and I am ready to cooperate with them. When I depose before the police and judiciary, I will
disclose all names. They are not small names, but big. I am sure these people will not leave me alive,” he said in an 18-minute video addressed to the City Commissioner Alok Kumar.

Police said that they were yet to ascertain the veracity of the video, which is in circulation here. Sharing his mobile number in the video, Khan, who is reportedly now in Dubai, alleged that some IMA managerial staff and politicians had backstabbed and harassed him, forcing him to hide his family members.

“Leaving the country was a mistake. But my own people – within the management and some close politicians – backstabbed and started harassing me. So I was forced to hide my family. Whatever happened subsequently was in haste and not planned,” he said.

Khan, who did not reveal where he was, said he wanted to return on June 14, but was asked to go off-board saying he cannot leave. “I had been at the airport on June 19 to return to India, but was asked to go off-board because I was told I cannot leave,” he added.

Khan also said “99 per cent of the people” were spreading fake news on IMA and clarified that he did not run a Ponzi scheme. He had earlier accused former Congress MLA Roshan Baig of having taken Rs 400 crore and not paying it back.

The Karnataka government has formed an 11-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by DIG BR Ravikanthe Gowda to probe the alleged fraud.

On June 20, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued the first summons to Khan, directing him to appear before the agency on June 24. The next day, SIT raided the IMA Jewels’ office in New Delhi and seized Rs 20 crore worth jewellery. The SIT had arrested the firm’s auditor Iqbal Khan and seven directors of different entities linked to Khan.

Over 40,000 complaints have so far been filed against the company by investors, demanding that their money be returned to them.