RV Deshpande, a former industries and revenue minister from the Congress party, is under the radar for his alleged seeking of Rs 5 crore bribe from Mansoor Khan (IMA scam accused) for clearing a loan of Rs 600 crore
Bengaluru: Is the Enforcement Directorate (ED) closing in on former Karnataka minister and senior Congressmen RV Deshpande? If sources are to be believed, the former minister for revenue and industries is under the scanner as the prime accused in the IMA case, Mansoor Khan, who is presently in CBI custody has revealed that Deshpande sought a bribe of Rs 5 crore to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) to get a loan of Rs 600 crore.
A newspaper reported that Khan was taken to meet Deshpande by Roshan Baig, the disqualified Congress MLA from Shivajinagar. IMA director Nizamuddin also accompanied Khan on this visit.
It is said Deshpande sought the said amount as bribe and added that principal secretary Rajkumar Khatri of the revenue department was to be taken care of separately. It is further being said that Guruprasad and Hari, the assistants of Deshpande called up Khan one day and told him to hand over the cash directly to Deshpande at his RT Nagar residence.
Interestingly, Deshpande is said to have sought more money as bribe, but Khan did not honour it as he didn’t have sufficient funds and washed his hands of the issue.
Alsor Read: Bengaluru IMA ponzi scam: Company founder Mansoor Khan arrested at Delhi airport
But when Deshpande was contacted in this regard, Deshpande is said to have termed the allegations “rubbish” but is said to have confessed saying that he did meet Khan in the presence of Roshan Baig once or twice, but denied any wrongdoing on his part.
It is said the prime accused Khan has named 31 other people in the scam, including police officers, bureaucrats, income tax officials and politicians.
Mohammed Mansoor Khan, founder of IMA Jewels and managing director of the company, was arrested at Delhi airport on Friday (July 19) after he had fled to Dubai.
After former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and Congress MLA DK Shivakumar, will it be Deshpande next?
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