Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has reportedly decided to hand over the multi-crore financial scam involving M/s I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Group of Companies to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), according to highly placed sources.
The decision comes a day after the Chief Minister announced that the probe into the phone tapping scandal, another politically sensitive case, will be handed over to the CBI.
Former chief minister Siddaramaiah tweeted on Monday that Yediyurappa has handed over the phone tapping case to the CBI on the order of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The State government will likely inform the High Court of the decision when a bunch of petitions related to IMA, including a PIL seeking a CBI probe, comes up for hearing on Tuesday. The decision was taken when the Chief Minister met top police officials led by DG&IGP Neelamani N. Raju at his residence on Monday, sources said.
When the BJP was in the opposition, it had demanded a CBI probe into the scam involving the IMA. The company, which claimed to be a halal trading firm, had allegedly cheated thousands of investors to the tune of ₹2,500 crore. There are allegations of the involvement of several Congress and JD(S) politicians. The coalition government had set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the scam.
The kingpin Mohammed Mansoor Khan has accused former Congress MLA R. Roshan Baig, now disqualified for defection, of cheating him of ₹400 crore. Mr. Baig is now being identified with the BJP.
Congress MLA B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan has been questioned by the SIT and Enforcement Directorate (ED). A former DC and tehsildar of Bengaluru Urban district have been arrested while allegations are being made about the involvement of several IPS officers.
Handing over the probes to the CBI has raised the hackles of the opposition. In a series of tweets, former chief minister Siddaramaiah sought to know how the saffron party, which once called CBI as ‘Chor Bachao Institution’, had suddenly developed faith and respect for the organisation. “The CBI works directly under the Union home minister. Given how the BJP government has misused the central agency over the last five years, we have our reservations,” Siddaramaiah said.