Archives for June 2019

The JD(S) supremo’s statement comes just two days after his son Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that he is ‘in pain’ every day but has the responsibility of running the government smoothly.
News18.comUpdated:June 21, 2019, 11:47 AM IST facebookTwitterskype
‘Mid-Term Polls Are Imminent’: HD Deve Gowda Admits Cong-JD(S) Govt in Trouble File photo of HD Deve Gowda.

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New Delhi: In a surprising admission, Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda on Friday said that mid-term Assembly polls in the state are imminent as he is uncertain about how long the coalition government would last.

“I am not sure how long the coalition government will last. Going by the developments, in the past two months, mid-terms polls seem imminent. People can understand everything…let me see how things pan out,” he told a Kannada news channel.

Gowda’s statement comes just two days after his son Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that he is “in pain” every day but has the responsibility of running the government smoothly.

The Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka has been in deep waters since February as news emerged of the BJP, which holds the highest number of seats in the state Assembly, allegedly indulging in horse-trading.

The saffron party received a boost from the Lok Sabha results that were declared on May 23, which saw the BJP make a near clean sweep.

Following this, in an attempt to placate disgruntled lawmakers, the Kumaraswamy government decided to expand the cabinet, inducting two independents.

The two independent MLAs, R Shankar and H Nagesh, were inducted into the Ministry overlooking the claims of several senior leaders, particularly in the Congress, who are sulking ever since they failed to make it to the ministry earlier.

The fire broke out on a fifth-floor apartment around 1 am and spread to other floors.

A fire broke out at a 10-storeyed residential building in northwest Delhi’s Pitampura, a Delhi Fire Service official said on Thursday. About 100 residents were safely rescued and no one was injured in the fire late Wednesday night, the official said.

A few residents complained of mild suffocation after inhaling fumes, but did not require medical attention, Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said.

The fire broke out on a fifth-floor apartment around 1 am and spread to other floors. Fifteen fire tenders took nearly three hours to extinguish the flames, the official said.

Furniture and other household items were damaged, the official said, adding that the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

This comes days after Imran Khan wrote to Prime Minister Modi, saying Islamabad desired talks with New Delhi to resolve all issues, including Kashmir.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reiterated that relationship with Pakistan can improve only if the neighbouring country takes decisive steps against terrorism. Responding to a letter by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Modi wrote back to him, laying India’s pre-condition for any dialogue in clear terms.

“For this (talks), It is important to build an environment of trust, free of terror, violence and hostility,” said Prime Minister Modi in his letter.

Confirming the development, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the letter was in accordance with “established diplomatic practice” to respond to “congratulatory messages” received from Pakistan.

The statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs said, “As per the established diplomatic practice, PM and EAM have responded to the congratulatory messages received from their counterparts in Pakistan. In their messages, they have highlighted that India seeks normal and cooperative relations with all neighbours, including Pakistan.”

The MEA also emphasised on the need for an “atmosphere free from the shadow of terror and violence”.

This comes days after Imran Khan wrote to Prime Minister Modi, saying Islamabad desired talks with New Delhi to resolve all issues, including Kashmir. In his letter, Imran congratulated Modi for the latter’s victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election.

He had said that talks between India and Pakistan was the only way to resolve differences and work to tackle menace like poverty.

During the recently held Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Kyrgyzstan, no talks or meeting happened between the two leaders. Notably, Prime Minister Modi did hold bilateral talks with China, Russia, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

However, reports said that the Prime Ministers of the neighbouring countries did exchange “usual pleasantries” in the Leaders’ Lounge during the SCO summit in Bishkek.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said, “There was no scheduled structured meeting between two leaders. On the second day of the SCO, but they met, shook hands. They also exchanged pleasantries.”

India has repeatedly turned down Pakistan’s request for resumption of dialogue, citing that there has been no concrete proof of the country’s action against terrorism. New Delhi has maintained that terrorism and talks cannot go hand in hand.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have spiralled following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. Both the countries were almost on the brink of a war after India’s military planes struck a terrorist training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 26 and Pakistan carried out a counter-offensive the next day.

Meanwhile, US has also said that Pakistan needs to act against terrorism to improve ties with India. Urging Pakistan to take more decisive steps against terror, the US said that the country needed to arrest and prosecute the ones involved in terrorist activities.

“I need to solve the pain of people of the state. I have the responsibility of running the government smoothly,” Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said.

HD Kumaraswamy alleged that one of his party legislators was offered Rs. 10 crore by the BJP.

HIGHLIGHTS

1. I have the responsibility of running government smoothly: HD Kumaraswamy
2. He alleged one of his party leaders was offered Rs. 10 crore by the BJP
3. Fears of poaching by BJP after coalition’s poor dismal performance

Days after expanding his cabinet in Karnataka in an attempt to keep the coalition together, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy today said he “cannot express the pain” he goes through everyday, adding that he has the responsibility of running the government smoothly.

“I promise I will fulfil your expectations. I can’t express the pain I am going through every day. I want to express it with you, but cannot. But I need to solve the pain of people of the state. I have the responsibility of running the government smoothly,” Mr Kumaraswamy said at an event in Channapatna on Tuesday.

The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government in Karnataka has been left vulnerable after their massive defeat in the national election. Both the parties won just a seat each, with the BJP sweeping polls in Karnataka with 25 of 28 seats in the bag.

The dismal performance has raised fears of a potential revival of what is referred to as “Operation Lotus”. The term was first used in 2008, when the BJP was accused of inciting several opposition legislators to defect to ensure the stability of its government headed by BS Yeddyurappa.

On Tuesday, Mr Kumaraswamy also alleged that one of his party legislators was offered Rs.10 crore by the BJP. “One of our MLAs called me after he got a call by a BJP leader. They offered him Rs. 10 crore to leave JD(S) and join BJP. These attempts are being done continuously by BJP leaders. But by God’s grace and your blessings this government is safe for another four years,” he said.

The BJP has said that it would not take any active steps to bring down the coalition government. The party denies any plan of luring away legisaltors from the Congress or the JD(S). Just before the Lok Sabha elections, one legislator, Umesh Jadhav, did join the BJP and was given the Lok Sabha ticket from the Kalaburagi seat. Mr Jadhav defeated Congress veteran, Mallikarjun Kharge in Kalaburagi.

Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said that there is “no threat” to the coalition government in his state.

“There is absolutely no threat to the government in Karnataka, there is no problem. They (BJP) are trying desperately but they will not succeed,” Mr Siddaramaiah said in Delhi.

KPCC campaign committee head and former Minister H.K. Patil had already tendered his resignation to the post following the party’s poll rout.   | Photo Credit: K_MURALI_KUMARMORE-INIndian National Congress

The All India Congress Committee has decided to dissolve the existing Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). However, the president and working president will remain unchanged, said an AICC release on Wednesday.

KPCC campaign committee head and former Minister H.K. Patil had already tendered his resignation to the post following the party’s poll rout. KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao and working president Eshwar Khandre will continue to hold the posts.

This is part of Congress’s effort to restructure KPCC after the party’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections. With the party being the alliance partner of the Karnataka government, it managed to win just a single seat from the State in the recently concluded general elections.

The Rise & Fall Of Mansoor KhanBy: Rizwan Asad It was the 90’s decade when the then unknown man named Mohammed Mansoor Khan was working in a small fish shop. His parents, hailing from Tamil Nadu, had landed in Bengaluru in the 50’s decade & settled here in Mackan Road in Shivajinagar.Right at the young age of 18, Mohammed Mansoor Khan, had made up his mind to work instead of going to college. So he started working as a sales representative, but of course after his small stint in the fish shop.It was much later, that he had decided to put his mind & his heart in academics & thereby ended up obtaining a degree of B.Com from the Bangalore University.Once that done he had started hunting for a job but was unable to find a proper job in Bengaluru, so he left for Dubai in the late decade 0f the 90’s, where he worked as a sales representative in a jewellery business run by one of his relatives. It was here that he had gained the knowledge of the gold trade.After making his comeback from Dubai & picking up the ropes of the gold trade, instead of Bengaluru he had headed straight to Chennai, then Madras where he had succeeded in getting a post graduate diploma in his by now favorite arena of jewellery design. After passing through & acquiring the entire ropes of the jewellery field he returned to Bangalore & joined the Heera Islamic Business Group run by  Noweera Sheikh before setting up the roots of his own firm later known more popularly as IMA Jewels.So this in a nutshell is the short & sweet or rather a brief & bitter history of the fraudster Mohammed Mansoor Khan & his equally fraud company known as IMA Jewels.But Mr. Mansoor Khan could not keep the lid on his fraud dealings a secret for long. As very soon a probe into his Rs 3,000 crores ponzi scam perpetrated by none other than I Monetary Advisory (IMA) based in Bengaluru.And the so called firm IMA had ended up cheating several depositors which has of late taken up several fraudulent twists & turns.Not only this the Special Investigation Team is now seriously & actually investigating the entire fraud scam case & is also probing into the wheeling dealings of the IMA CEO Mohammed Mansoor Khan’s past activities, for which there are also allegations that the man who is known to have a firm & a strong political connections & disappeared from the country, was actually aided & abetted by a few corrupt officials in the so called police department.On the contrary the allegations made that the Bengaluru police did not take the Revenue Department’s public notice seriously stating that IMA was carrying our fraudulent activities in the month of November 2018 seriously, some sources say that they are looking into whether any police officials were involved in covering up Mansoor Khan’s tracks since the year 2015. Whereas the truth of the fact is that in the month of April 2017, Mansoor Khan had filed a case against Janasri TV CEO Lakshmi Prasad Vajpai making serious allegations that Lakshmi Prasad Vajpai was trying to extort Rs 15 crores from him.But the million dollar question is that did Lakshmi Prasad Vajpai really have any incriminating evidence against Mansoor Khan & his so called IMA’s illegal dealings?But on the other hand the other sources say that their probe has unraveled several details about Mansoor Khan & his sudden accumulation of the hugh wealth. Which brings us to another million dollar question as to who is Mansoor Khan in reality?A Small Time StartActually speaking Mansoor Khan had made his career start off by joining the firm named as Heera Islamic Business Group run by none other than the lady known as Nowhera Shaikh, where Mansoor Khan had allegedly learned the inner workings of the so called Ponzi scams by showcasing them as halal investments. On this aspect & respect a source averred, “Mansoor Khan had learned where to buy the gold for cheap & bring it back to sell it for higher prices at Heera Gold. One of the 1^st ever businesses that he had set up was IMA Jewels. ”In the year 2006, Mansoor Khan had decided to establish a similar financial advisory company. As a resident of Shivajinagar, Mansoor Khan had allegedly rubbed shoulders with the so called gangsters of the surrounding arena. While a gangster was the one bringing in the investment, Mansoor was allegedly the salesman who was trying to lure more & more investors. Thus, began the advisory firm IMA.While another source added, “At that time, there was no one who took Mansoor seriously as he did not possess a good reputation due to the people he mingled with. So, the company was dissolved by the year 2008.”The rise & rise & the ultimate fall of IMA & Mansoor KhanBy the month of December 2013, Mansoor Khan had allegedly decided to take a different route namely to gather the support of the religious leaders from his community in order to drive his by now hard earned investment into his new venture. Later on Mansoor Khan & his closest ally Nasir Hussein had started the firm named I Monetary Advisory in the month of December 2013.In this regard one more source had this particular input to offer, “Mansoor Khan by now had already began convincing the ulema in Bengaluru & moreover several other districts in Karnataka by stating that his company has been in existence since the year 2006. Although it was technically not true, but the ulema were convinced by his plan. Mansoor Khan had, in fact, promised 10 times more than what was invested. Of the profits earned, he promised to give 70% of it to the investors, retain 15% for the company expenses, use 10% for the charitable works & keep the remaining money for himself. He promised the ulema that he would build hospitals & also open a school. ”By the year 2015, IMA had over 10,000 investors & the numbers only kept increasing. But in the year 2016, Mansoor Khan had opened IMA Jewels in Shivaji Nagar.The next source adds, “IMA Jewels used to give out 20% to 50% discounts on gold to its investors at its showroom in Shivaji Nagar. This is when the Income Tax Department began getting suspicious. In the month of April 2017, the Income Tax Department had conducted a search & also a seizure operation at the varied properties owned by Mansoor Khan. He was under investigation for not filing the returns since the year 2015 & also the year 2016 fiscal. In fact the I-T firm had received a tip off from the RBI in the year of 2015 itself,”And then the IMA offered the members of the Muslim community the offer of the so called “halal” investment options. And according to the Sharia law, it is considered “haram” (prohibited) to draw interests (riba) on money. The “Halal” options are considered ethical wherein the amount can be invested in trade of commodities accepted under the Islamic law & a profit is shared with the investors.Between the year 2016 & the year 2018, the IMA Group of Companies had already started a school, a multi-specialty hospital, a supermarket chain, gold trade business & also a construction company under its umbrella. Not only this another Jewellry showroom was opened in Jayanagar in the bygone year of 2018.Adding a pile on to this some sources stated that Mansoor Khan had allegedly got 3 other influential ulema in Bengaluru to endorse his company IMA & also got the powerful politicians to attend most of the so called IMA functions.Mansoor Khan had also allegedly worked for several election campaigns of a senior politician in Bengaluru & is also said to have rubbed shoulders with those in power in their time in the state.Under the Scanner of the state & even the central agenciesInvestigators say that Mansoor Khan was under the scanner of the RBI, the I-T Department, the Ggovernment & also the police. However, with no investor coming forward to file their complaints, Mansoor Khan had allegedly got away for 3 cosecutivec years. In fact the RBI had first issued a notification to the Karnataka Government in the year 2015 that IMA was indulging in a Ponzi scam scheme. The Revenue Department, however, dropped its probe when it found that the investors were listed as partners, according to the investment bonds & not depositors in IMA.According to the Karnataka Protection of Interest of the Depositors in Financial Establishments Act of the year 2006, partners of a firm are excluded as “depositors.” In the case of IMA, every investor was termed a “partner” as per the original bonds. The Karnataka Government had in the year 2015 decided to avoid prosecuting Mansoor Khan due to this loophole. Sources in the Revenue Department say that a cabinet minister at the time had intervened & ensured that IMA got a clean chit.In the year 2018, when a section of the investors stopped getting their monthly dividends, the company once again came under RBI scanner. This time, the Revenue Department decided to probe the matter & had also issued a public notice regarding the IMA’s fraudulent activities in the month of November 2018. Central Crime Branch police say that the economic offenses wing was already investigating Mansoor Khan when a similar halal investment company namely Ambident Marketing was exposed for indulging in a Ponzi scam scheme. “Many people who had invested in Ambident Marketing had also invested in IMA. But in the month of November 2018, there was not a single complaint against IMA & so they could not do anything. The case was even given to the CID department but they could not do much either,” a CCB source added.When IMA was shut down on 10^th June 2019, investors were left with just 2 audio clips purported to be suicide notes recorded by Mansoor Khan. However, on 13^th June 2019 some sources learned that he had fled to Dubai with his 4^th wife & 2 children. A raid was conducted on several of his properties since 10^th June 2019 & on Monday the home of his 3^rd wife Tabassum was raided, “We recovered 1.5 kg gold, 2.5 lakh cash & also some documents. In fact Mansoor’s 3rd wife is cooperating with the investigation & has also given a laptop in which she says Mansoor Khan had kept crucial information. The matter is looked into. Period!