Hundreds of anxious investors turned up at the office of IMA Jewels on Bowring Hospital Road in Shivajinagar on Monday after an audio clip, allegedly of Managing Director Mansoor Ahmed Khan claiming to end his life owing to financial troubles, started doing the rounds.

However, senior police officials neither confirmed nor denied that Mr. Khan had committed suicide, but maintained that he was absconding as the Central Crime Branch is probing cases of cheating against him.

DCP (East) Rahul Kumar Shahapurwad said Mr. Khan’s whereabouts are yet to be ascertained. “Efforts are on to track him down and the police are yet to confirm the authenticity of the audio clip,” he said.

As the audio clip was widely shared, worried investors thronged the IMA office and protested against Mr. Khan and demanded that he return their money. A notice put up in front of the office read that it was closed for Ramzan from June 5 to 9. But the office remained closed on Monday as well. Later, the investors queued up at the Commercial Street police station to file complaints against IMA Jewels.

The police said with a lot of investors — many of them vendors, businessmen, and from the middle class — turning up to file complaints, extra staff had been deployed to tackle the situation.