Roshan Baig granted bail in IMA scam case

A special CBI court on Saturday granted bail to former minister Roshan Baig in the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) investment scam case.

Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge (Principal Special Judge for CBI cases) Manjula Itty said the prosecution had not produced any prima facie material to show that Baig’s further custodial interrogation is necessary for the investigation.

Baig was arrested on November 22 on charges of extracting huge amount, running into several hundred crores of rupees, in the name of protection money from the main accused Mohammed Mansoor Khan.

In his application, Baig had contended that the police have already filed the charge sheet in the case. Baig submitted that he is in no way concerned to either Mohammed Mansoor Khan or the IMA company.

The prosecution stated that according to the investigation, Baig extracted huge money from the main accused and utilised the amount for expenditure during the 2018 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The investigating officer has collected workflow chart prepared by another accused, accounts in-charge at the IMA group, which reveals that money has been transferred to Baig and to the Siasath daily newspaper, published by Baig under Danish Publications Private Limited.

The court granted bail and ordered Baig to execute a personal bond for Rs 5 lakh with two solvent sureties each for the like sum. The court imposed conditions, including that Baig shall appear before the investigating officer on second and fourth Monday every month, till the completion of the investigation and shall also surrender his passport before the court.

'Money paid to bureaucrats, politicians'

The prosecution has stated that one of the accused has confessed that he had paid a huge amount of money to several bureaucrats and politicians as per the instructions from Baig. The prosecution said that the investigation in this regard is in progress and the other accused are to be confronted with each other.