The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the multi-crore IMA ponzi scam arrested the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru (Urban), BM Vijayshankar, on Monday (July 8) on charges of taking a bribe of Rs 1.5 crore from the firm.
Vijayshankar, an IAS officer, allegedly took the bribe from the scam kingpin Mohammed Mansoor Khan for preparing a favourable report on the fraudulent company. The IAS officer submitted the report to the Karnataka government. He had also approved a clearance certificate submitted by the North division ACP for revenue, LC Nagaraj, after he conducted a probe based on the Reserve Bank of India's queries.
ACP Nagaraj was arrested on Friday for taking a bribe of Rs 4.5 crore from Khan for issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) to the IMA group, allowing the firm to raise a loan. He had concealed the facts on IMA's dealing and approved the NOC.
According to the reports, the deputy commissioner accepted the bribe in April 2019 through a village accountant, identified as Manjunath. He was taken from his office on Monday for interrogation by the SIT team led by superintendent of police S Girish. Vijayshankar was questioned till evening and arrested thereafter for his involvement in the IMA scam.
DC Vijayshankar has been arrested under Karnataka Protection of Interests of Depositors in Financial Establishments (KPID) Act, 2004. He is the third government official to be arrested in connection with the multi-crore fraud after ACP Nagaraj and BDA executive engineer PD Kumar Nayak.
Nayak was also accused of taking Rs 4 crore bribe from Khan. The SIT sleuths also raided his JP Nagar residence and recovered documents pertaining to disproportionate assets and seized Rs 2 lakh.
