IMA scam: Bengaluru MLA Roshan Baig says allegations against him baseless

IMA Scam

“After my recent political fallouts, some of my adversaries have made a full-fledged attempt at assassinating my character by orchestrating a series of events using underhanded methods,” said the Congress leader.

TNM Staff

Senior Congress leader and Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig has come out to clarify that he has no connection with the Bengaluru IMA Jewels scam. The MLA’s name surfaced in the case after an audio clip purportedly of the absconding I Monetary Advisory chief, Mohammed Mansoor Khan named the Congress leader. “By the time you would be listening to this message, I’m certain that I won’t be there in this world. I have decided to end my life. Sir, I built this company with a lot of hard work in the last 12 to 13 years. But because of the corruption in the Central government and the state government, I kept bribing the bureaucrats and Muslim politicians. The PMO and the RBI were misinformed,” says the voice in the clip, which was sent to the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner allegedly by Mansoor Khan himself. Responding to these allegations, the Congress leader took to Twitter to state that he had no connection to the case and that this was the work of his political rivals. “After my recent political fallouts, some of my adversaries have made a full-fledged attempt at assassinating my character by orchestrating a series of events using underhanded methods. The entire hitjob has been carried out using a baseless, un-investigated audio recording,” he wrote on the microblogging site. In an interview to TOI he reiterated that he was not connected to the crime. “I’ve clearly said the voice recorded in the clip is of a fraudster, who has cheated thousands of investors from the Muslim community. The clip says I have taken Rs 400 crores from Mansoor Khan. While I am astonished by this, I want to ask, how can one believe a fraudster? He is absconding and nobody knows his whereabouts.”

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K’taka HC grants bail to HIV-positive woman accused of murdering daughter-in-law

Law

The court ruled that the woman’s HIV-positive status has to be factored in when considering her bail petition.

TNM Staff

A Bengaluru woman who had been arrested for allegedly murdering her daughter-in-law was granted bail after Karnataka High Court ruled that her HIV status must be considered when reviewing her bail application. The 48-year-old woman had been in prison since September 2018 after she was arrested for torturing her daughter-in-law to death for dowry. “The Sessions Court, by its order dated December 31, 2018 rejected the bail application, despite observing that the petitioner is HIV-positive. The fact that the accused-petitioner is HIV-positive is also a fact to be considered while deciding as to whether the petitioner is entitled to be released on bail,” stated the court as per the Hindu. Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav oversaw the hearing and ruled that the woman could be granted bail. “Note is taken of the fact that chargesheet has been filed after the investigation. The fact as to whether the deceased was driven to end her life as a result of the role of the petitioner along with other accused is a matter to be established in trial. More so, in this case, the petitioner is the mother-in-law of the deceased and whether her acts for demand of dowry constitute an offence is a matter to be proved during trial. Further, as regards to the other allegation that the petitioner had burnt a portion of saree fabric used by the deceased to hang herself is also a matter to be established in trial,” stated the court. While the woman has been granted bail, the court has ordered her to execute a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. The deceased’s parents have alleged that their daughter was routinely harassed by the accused and her son (deceased’s husband) for dowry and that they killed her. The accused, however, denied this and maintained that her daughter-in-law had committed suicide. The deceased was found hanging at her residence on September 25, 2018. 

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Karnataka govt to reassess Jindal land deal, what the controversy is all about

Business

CM Kumaraswamy’s decision to review came on the same day when industry leaders urged the government not to “send a wrong signal to investor community”.

Soumya Chatterjee

Theja Ram

In a sudden U-turn, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy announced that the state government may not go ahead with the controversial decision to give land to Jindal group’s JSW Steel Ltd in Ballari for iron ore mining. “I have discussed the controversy with Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and Industries Minister K J George. I’ve directed that this be re-examined and placed before the Cabinet for a discussion,” the CM said in a late night tweet on Tuesday. A source said, “Continuous bad press has led to the decision, After a consultation with Deputy CM, the CM decided to go for another round of cabinet review.” Incidentally this came on the same day when industry leaders urged the government not to “send a wrong signal to investor community”. “The facilitation of industry to set up shop in Karnataka is one of the most important tasks of the Government of Karnataka. The present controversy over regularisation of land lease of JSW Steel Ltd is unfortunate as well as unnecessary. We understand that political colour has been given to the legitimate use of land by a large industry to set up its plant and facilities." Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce president Kishore Alva said. Until now the CM had maintained a studied silence on the issue despite opposition from many quarters including allegations of kickbacks. What is the row over the land in Ballari? The Karnataka cabinet on May 30, 2019 had unanimously agreed to allocate 2000.58 acres of land in Ballari district’s Sandur and an additional 1666.73 acres of land in the district’s Yalaburga region to JSW Steel Ltd for mining operations. However, Congress leader HK Patil, in a letter to Industries Minister KJ George had alleged that JSW Steel Ltd owed Rs 1,200 crore to Mysore Minerals Ltd as on May 27, 2019 and that the state government was giving away the land for a depreciated value.  JSW Steel Ltd has been accused of supplying iron ore to Mysore Minerals at a low premium between 2000-01 and 2009-10. During this time period, 9.25 million tonnes of iron ore valued at Rs 1,059.89 crore was mined, for which Mysore Minerals got only Rs 63.17 crore as premium, while JSW Steel Ltd made a profit of Rs 876.9 crore, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report in 2013 states. “This case is still in court. There was debate about whether the land should be given to such a company and hence the Law department was consulted. The department had recommended against handing over the land to JSW Steel Ltd. The reason why I brought this issue forwards is because Minister KJ George told the media after the cabinet meeting on May 30 that the company had cleared all dues. When the illegal mining by Janardhana Reddy came to the fore, Congress had campaigned against such activities. This decision will hurt the party and so I brought it up,” HK Patil told TNM. Meanwhile, Sajjan Jindal, chairman, JSW Group, told the media in Ballari that the company had not indulged in illegalities. “The company has not committed any illegalities. I cannot react on the land alienation issue which is being politicised. This is quite common in politics. People have the right to question the government’s actions in a democratic set-up. This is the beauty of democracy. Nothing’s going to happen if someone opposes it (the land deal),” he said.

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Pharma company employees assault journos for reporting on mishap, held

Crime

The two victims, Manjunath and Devaraju, are journalists working with regional TV channels Raj News and Samaya TV.

TNM Staff

ANI

In a brazen attack against journalists, two Karnataka-based scribes were hospitalised on Wednesday after they were assaulted by employees of a pharmaceutical company in Tumakuru. Four people have been arrested in connection with the attack. The two victims, Manjunath and Devaraju, are journalists for Raj News and Samaya TV Kannada news channels respectively. According to police, the journalists were attacked for reporting about the environmental hazard being created by a pharmaceutical company named Beloor Biotech Boylor a locality in Tumakuru. Since June 8, smoke has been emanating from the factory after one of their boilers exploded. The smoke has been causing difficulty for children, elderly and the sick in the area. The journalists were on the spot reporting the news when around four to five people attacked them. Police said apart from the assaulting the two, the attackers also damaged two cameras and two tripods. Based on a complaint filed by the two news channels, Tumakuru police on Wednesday arrested four people, including the HR representative of the pharma company. “They have been booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 146 (rioting) of the Indian Penal Code and other stringent sections. We are investigating and we need to know at what exact point this violence took place,” Tumakuru SP Vamshi Krishna told TNM. Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who visited the two journalists at the hospital, said, “I have asked officials to inspect the boiler blast and take appropriate action against the owner and concerned officials. Journalists from various channels were attacked by a group of about 50-60 employees of the firm. The incident should not have occurred.”. “I have instructed the SP to ensure that the attackers are arrested. I have also instructed the hospital to ensure that the journalists are treated on priority. I condemn the attack on the freedom of the press,” he added. The development in Tumakuru came on the same day when an UP-based journalist Amit Sharma was accosted by General Railway Police as he went to cover an incident of a train derailment near Dhimanpura in Shamli district. "I was locked up, stripped and they urinated upon right into my mouth," the victim, Amit Sharma of News24, told reporters. Station House Officer Rakesh Kumar and GRP constable Sunil Kumar have been suspended and a probe has been ordered into the incident.

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Multi-crore Bengaluru IMA scam: SIT led by DIG Ravikanthe Gowda to probe

Crime

A total of 11 members have been chosen from various police departments including the CID, Intelligence and Lokayukta.

TNM Staff

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday announced the formation of a 11-man special investigation team (SIT) led by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Ravikanthe Gowda to probe the multi crore I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam.  Ravikanthe Gowda will be assisted by Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Crime S Girish, Assistant Commissioner Central Crime Branch, Bengaluru Balaraju, Deputy SP CID K Ravishankar, Dy SP  State Intelligence Bengaluru Raja Imam Kasim and Dy SP Karnataka Lokayukta Abdul Khader. Others in the team are police inspectors CR Geetha of Karnataka Lokayukta, LY Rajesh of BDA (Bengaluru Development Authority), Anjan Kumar of CCB, N Thanveer Ahmed, State Crime Records Bureau and BK Shekhar of the Commercial Street Police Station. A note by the Karnataka State Police Chief N Neelamani Raju said that the SIT will report to the ADGP, Crime & Criminal Network Tracking & Systems (CCTNS) Mohammed Saleem. The development was expected as Home Minister MB Patil who was directed by the CM to take stock of the situation met senior police officials in the state. Speaking to reporters, he had said that the government will form an SIT. While the company’s MD Mansoor Khan is absconding and is suspected to be in Dubai, six other directors of the company surrendered to the police. Since Sunday, investors of the scheme went into panic mode after a WhatsApp audio, purportedly that of IMA’s MD Mansoor Khan threatening suicide had gone viral. In the audio which was also sent to the city Police Commissioner, Mansoor is heard saying that the Shivajinagar Congress MLA, Roshan Baig (although he did not explicitly mention his name in the clip), had taken Rs 400 crore from him to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On Sunday, based on more than 3,000 representations, Commercial Street Police registered an FIR against Mansoor and four others of the company for cheating and criminal breach of trust. Since then, the number of complaints have been increasing. The issue was widely covered in the media as hundreds of its investors thronged to IMA’s office since Monday morning, creating a law and order situation  

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Rs 40 crore irrigation scam: Karnataka CID files 1.23 lakh-page charge sheet

Crime

The charge sheet has been filed against 60 persons, including 18 officials of the Minor Irrigation department.

TNM Staff

The two-year-long investigation into the alleged Rs 40 crore misappropriation in Karnataka’s Minor Irrigation department has finally concluded. The Criminal Investigation Department, on Tuesday, filed a 1.23 lakh-page charge sheet in the Koppala JMFC Court. “The charge sheet has been filed against 60 persons, including 18 officials of the Minor Irrigation department. The officials had colluded with contractors and created fake bills, and within a span of four months, they had created thousands of fake bills and looted Rs 40 crore of public funds,” said CID DySP K Purushottam. The CID has collected documents pertaining to the details of the contracts, the fake bills that were generated between October 2015 and January 2016, cheques, bank statements, witness statements, confessions and other evidence. The scam Between October 2015 and January 2016, Rs 40 crore was released to the Minor Irrigation department in Koppal district for dredging lakes before the monsoons set in. During this period, only a third of the 112 lakes were filled with water and the remaining were to be dredged. As many as 18 officials from the Minor Irrigation department and 52 others, including contractors and government officials in various other departments, have been accused of creating 3,938 fake bills, pertaining to 172 piecework contracts for dredging the lakes, and transferring money – less than Rs 1 lakh at a time – to the bank accounts of various contractors. “They were transferring small amounts to avoid detection,” DySP Purushottam said. The scam was brought to light after the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha filed an RTI and obtained information about the development works completed in the district. The KPRS had accused the Anti Corruption Bureau officials of ignoring the multiple complaints filed by the organisation regarding the scam. KPRS had alleged that the ACB officials were colluding with the Minor Irrigation department. Soon after, the Kalaburgi district Executive Engineer was appointed to conduct an internal inquiry, and he submitted a report on the discrepancies to the state government on April 7, 2016. The report suggested that thousands of fake bills were generated and crores of rupees were misappropriated. The case, which was being probed by the Kushtagi Police, was then handed over to the CID in 2017. Soon after, 26 government officials were suspended, of which 17 were from the Minor Irrigation department. The officials – Premanand Kumar, former executive engineer; HD Jhadhav, former technical assistant; B Shivakumar, former assistant executive engineer; S Manohar, former assistant executive engineer; MH Pawar, assistant executive engineer, and Chandrashekhar S Kalburgi, first-division assistant in the Minor Irrigation department in Kushtagi division – were named as accused in the case after the CID raided their homes and offices in 2017 to gather evidence. Similarly, several raids were conducted in the homes of Minor Irrigation department officials in Mysuru, Kolar, Vijayapura, Ballari, Davangere and Kushtagi.    

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Farmers will get full loan waiver money in single phase, Karnataka govt announces

Farm Loan

The decision comes a week after over 13,000 farmers alleged that the government had withdrawn the money deposited into their banks under the scheme.

TNM Staff

After being accused of withdrawing lakhs of rupees deposited under the loan waiver scheme from the accounts of Karnataka farmers, the state government has decided to waive all eligible farm loans in one go. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, on Wednesday announced that loans of 2,28,961 farmers amounting to Rs 4,617.31 crore will be released in a single phase across the state. “The money was to be released in two phases but that decision has been changed. So far, several farmers have availed of the scheme and we will release the remaining money in one go and is expected to be complete within the next couple of months,” a spokesperson with the Chief Minister’s Office said. According to data obtained from the CMO, 2,82,230 farmers are eligible for restructured loan waiver amounting to Rs 2,812 crore; overdue loans amounting to Rs 3,057 crore of 2,76,286 farmers; NPA loans amounting to Rs 965.72 crore of 1,08,136 eligible farmers; and regular loans amounting to Rs 720 crore of 3,11,400 eligible farmers fall under the scheme. As many as 9,78,052 farmers across the state were considered eligible under the Crop Loan Waiver Scheme. The total cost of the loans was pegged at Rs 8,547 crore of which, Rs 3,930 crore has already been waived, the data suggests. “Some restricted, overdue and regular loans were already waived. Now the remaining ones will be done in a single phase. Funds amounting to Rs 5,150 crore was released to the Nodal Department earlier when the loans were waived in phase 1. The Department currently has Rs 1,219.83 crore remaining and requires Rs 3,397.48 crore funds to reimburse all eligible farmers, whose loans have not been waived,” the official added. Earlier in June, the money reimbursed in April to over 13,000 farmers across the state under the scheme was withdrawn. Several farmers were shocked and had alleged that the government had deposited the money only to obtain votes for the Lok Sabha Elections. Read: Karnataka farm loan waiver money ‘disappears’ from accounts of over 13,000 farmers

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