A senior IAS official B M Vijay Shankar against whom the Central Bureau of Investigation had registered a case of corruption in the I Monetary Advisors (IMA) ponzi scam, allegedly died by suicide at his residence in Bengaluru’s Jaynagar area on Tuesday night, Police said.
The officer who was under suspension had been arrested & jailed in July 2019.
Tilaknagar Police Station officials said that his wife & daughters were present in the house when he ended his life. No suicide note has been recovered.
Bhaskar Rao Police Commissioner of Bangalore said that “We have taken up a case of unnatural death & are investigating".
The IMA ponzi scheme run by its founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan & his associates had duped lakhs of people by promising higher returns using Islamic way of investment.
Vijay Shankar an Ex-District Commissioner of Bangalore was accused of accepting a bribe of at least Rs 1.5 crore from IMA’s Khan by a special investigative team constituted by the State Govt but the case was subsequently transferred to the CBI.
The SIT which had arrested him had also recovered Rs 2.5 crore cash from his residence. The amount allegedly included the bribe money. At the time of his arrest, Shankar was heading the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments & allegedly accepted the bribe to give a clean chit to IMA & its main promoter Khan.
More than 41,000 complaints were filed by investors alleging fraud in IMA after the firm closed in May 2019 & ceased to pay dividends. Shankar was arrested with several other officials & was lodged at Parapanna Agrahara jail before he got bail. He had earlier been discharged by a court in a separate disproportionate case filed by the state Lok Ayukta for lack of evidence.
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