A special court on Tuesday, while refusing to stay the investigation into IPS officer Hemanth Nimbalkar’s alleged role in the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) investment scam, directed the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) not to take coercive action against him. The order was issued on Tuesday after Nimbalkar approached the court seeking to quash the FIR filed against him by the CBI.
In the FIR, the CBI charged five police officers including Nimbalkar — who was at the time IGP Economic Offices, CID — under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting illegal gratification in the form of electronic gadgets and other benefits from the IMA to give favourable reports. IMA founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan was also named in the FIR.
Nimbalkar refuted the charges claiming that the report on the IMA, in which no irregularities were found, had been prepared by his juniors and submitted to him. He in turn forwarded it to his seniors. The report, which was forwarded, is not final, he submitted to the court. He further said that for the same offence, two FIRs had been filed which was not permissible under the law.
Special public prosecutor for the CBI P. Prasanna Kumar argued that the witnesses and material for both the cases were different. The CBI also assured the court that there was no proposal to arrest the accused officer, but planned to conclude its investigation by April 2021.
Incidentally, the then Assistant Commissioner of Police L.C. Nagaraj facing similar charges had also approached the court on the same grounds. His petition, too, had been dismissed at the time.
