Two weeks after his arrest, a special Bengaluru court on Saturday granted bail to former Congress Minister Roshan Baig in connection with the multi-crore I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam case. Baig, a seven-time MLA from Bengaluru’s Shivajinagar Assembly constituency, was arrested on November 22 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly helping prime accused Mohammed Mansoor Khan flee the country when the scam broke out. His arrest came after hours of questioning by the central agency earlier in that day.
It was earlier reported that Baig was admitted to Jayadeva Hospital on November 26 and had undergone an angioplasty. This, after doctors at Parappana Agrahara sought a second opinion on his health ahead of handing him over to the CBI for questioning. Baig had a pre-existing condition of diabetes and hypertension.
Baig’s name had first gotten embroiled in the scam when Mansoor Khan, in a video, had alleged that Roshan Baig had extorted money from him. Promptly after that video went viral, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of state police was formed by then Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. The SIT had also detained and questioned Baig in 2019. Close to 40,000 depositors have lost their money, and the owner of IMA, Mohammed Mansoor Khan, had said in the video that he had given Roshan Baig an amount of Rs 400 crore. Subsequently, the then Revenue Minister RV Deshpande had said that Roshan Baig had introduced him to Mansoor Khan in July that year, asking for favours to not investigate the company’s dealings as suggested by the Reserve Bank of India.
It may also be recalled that Baig was among the 17 MLAs of the erstwhile JD(S)-Congress coalition government who resigned and paved way for the formation of the current BJP government led by BS Yediyurappa in the state. Unlike others, he was not given a ticket to contest in the bye-polls by the ruling BJP.