After thousands of hard-working Bengalureans lost their life savings due to a wrong investment at I Monetary Advisory (IMA) group of companies, the investors are demanding the arrest of the firm's founder and managing director Mohammed Mansoor Khan who fled to the Middle East last week.
Before fleeing from the city, Khan sent an audio clip to the Commissioner of Police claiming to end his life due to financial distress. He alleged that many top wing politicians of Karnataka have cheated him including Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig, who had taken Rs 40 crore but refused to return it.
IMA was established in 2006 after Khan left his life in the Middle East to find his haven in the Silicon Valley of India.
In 2015, what was little known to the people was recognised among the mass as IMA, an investment plan especially benefiting the Muslim community with its so-called Islamic banking and halal investments with great benefits to lure the middle-class.
In 2006, when IMA was first introduced, Khan had a similar angle where the investors will benefit around 12-13 per cent of their invested amount every month. On Monday, after the audio clip went viral, it was estimated that Khan made an empire out of the Ponzi schemes and other ventures to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore.
Within a decade, IMA had a diverse portfolio with several other institutions under its wings ranging from bullion trading, educational institutions offering pre-primary to higher secondary education, healthcare services including a multispecialty hospital, hypermarkets, real estate, printing and publishing and retail sales of gold, silver, diamond and platinum jewellery, according to the company profile.
In November 2018, the Karnataka government had issued a notice to IMA for "illegally collecting money from investors and diverting the funds to its director's self-interest."
Khan had rubbished the government notice claiming that it was baseless and created only to tarnish the image of the company. He said that his legal team will take care of the notice. With the confidence from Khan, people continued depositing money in his firm not knowing the misery they were to suffer.
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