IMA scam: CBI files charge sheet against ex-Bangalore Development Authority engineer in bribery case

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against a former executive engineer of the Bangalore Development Authority for allegedly receiving Rs 5 crore from I-Monetary Advisory (IMA), which is facing a probe in a Rs 4,000-crore scam, to help the company get a clean chit from the Karnataka revenue department, officials said on Friday.

In its charge sheet filed before the principal sessions judge for CBI cases, Bengaluru, the agency has named former-BDA executive engineer P D Kumar, CEO and MD of IMA Group Mohammed Mansoor Khan, directors of the company Nizamuddin Ahamed, Vaseem, Naveed Ahmed, Nazir Hussain, and the company itself.

The probe has shown that a bribe of Rs 5 crore (approx) was allegedly paid in four installments -- two of Rs 1.5 crore and two of Rs 1 crore during April-May 2019 -- by the directors of the said group of entities (IMA), CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said in a statement.

"It was alleged that these amounts were paid on the instructions of CEO and MD (Khan) of the said group as part of a conspiracy hatched between him and the then executive engineer, BDA...," he said.

It was decided that Kumar would influence the officials of the revenue department, government of Karnataka to accept the closure report submitted by the competent authority and the then assistant commissioner, Bengaluru North sub-division, Bengaluru urban district, he added.

Joshi said the closure report into the allegations against the IMA Group was submitted in April 2019 to the revenue department.

"The said CEO and MD were allegedly waiting for this closure report to be accepted. It was further alleged that the said executive engineer (EE) was identified due to his old acquaintance with the senior officials of the revenue department of the Karnataka government. The said EE demanded Rs 5 crore with a promise to ensure the acceptance of the closure report," he said.

The report was rejected by the principal secretary of the revenue department who sent it for legal opinion and referred it to the DGP for carrying out a probe against the IMA Group.

"It was also alleged that since the work was not done, the said CEO and other directors put pressure on the said executive engineer (Kumar) to return the bribe amount.

"He allegedly returned Rs 30 lakh as per the books of accounts of the said group and also issued two cheques from his account for Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.5 crore as a security till the return of the remaining bribe amount in cash," Joshi said.

These two cheques issued by Kumar were recovered during the investigation, he said.

"Several WhatsApp chats between said the executive engineer and the said directors about file movement, gate digital access logs showing the different entry, and statements of several witnesses have been gathered," he said.

The agency is probing four cases in connection with the IMA scam which are being monitored by the Karnataka High Court.

"The CBI had earlier filed several charge sheets in connection with the scam. This is a multi-crore scam which allegedly involved unauthorised deposits collected from a large number of depositors. The investigations are continuing on a day-to-day basis," Joshi said.