New Delhi: The I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam was a multi-crore Ponzi scheme in Karnataka that came to light in 2019. Run by Mohammed Mansoor Khan through IMA and its group entities, the scheme allegedly duped thousands of investors (primarily in the Muslim community) by promising high “halal” returns. The scam collapsed in June 2019 when IMA ceased paying dividends, and Khan fled the country, triggering investigations.
Hemant M. Nimbalkar is a 1998-batch IPS officer who, during the crucial period of the scam, served as Inspector General of Police (IGP) in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Economic Offences Wing in Karnataka. His name surfaced in connection with the IMA scam for allegedly shielding the company from investigation during his tenure, and he later faced inquiries by multiple agencies. Below is a detailed timeline of events, major media coverage, and the status of legal proceedings involving Hemant Nimbalkar and the IMA scam.
Timeline of Events Involving Hemant Nimbalkar in the IMA Scam
January–March 2019: Internal CID Inquiry: While heading the CID Economic Offences Wing, Hemant Nimbalkar allegedly oversaw a preliminary inquiry into IMA’s activities. On Jan 18, 2019, he reportedly wrote to the state Director General of Police (DGP) stating that nothing suspicious was found in IMA’s transactions. On Mar 8, 2019, he went further by recommending the closure of the inquiry into IMA. In these reports, Nimbalkar essentially gave IMA a “clean chit,” asserting that IMA’s investments were legally structured (as partnership or LLP arrangements) and thus not illegal under the Karnataka Depositors’ Protection Act. It was later alleged that he ignored or downplayed warnings – the Reserve Bank of India had repeatedly urged a detailed probe into IMA’s unauthorized deposits, but Nimbalkar maintained no investigation was required.
June 2019: Scam Exposed: IMA defaulted on payments and abruptly shut operations in May/June 2019, and Mansoor Khan absconded. The Karnataka government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in June 2019 to investigate the scam. Mansoor Khan released a video accusing officials of corruption and soon fled to Dubai. By this time, over 40,000 complaints had been filed by duped investors. Khan eventually returned in July 2019 and was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 21, 2019.
July–August 2019: Names of Officials Emerge: Investigations by the ED and SIT started uncovering alleged collusion by public officials. In August 2019, media reports indicated that a list of 15 politicians and 6 police/IAS officers was retrieved from Mansoor Khan’s laptop, putting several senior officials “on edge”. While names were not officially disclosed at that time, it was widely speculated that the list included IPS officers who had interacted with IMA – a group that reportedly included Hemant Nimbalkar and Ajay Hilori, among others. The SIT interrogated then DCP (East) Ajay Hilori in August 2019, and likely examined the role of Nimbalkar as well.
30 August 2019: CBI Takes Over: The case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the orders of the government. On Aug 30, 2019, CBI registered its first FIR (RC 4/2019) against Mansoor Khan and IMA executives. At this stage, Nimbalkar was not yet named as an accused in the initial FIR. The focus was on the ponzi scheme operators and the massive fraud (estimated ~₹4,000 crore) perpetrated on investors.
Late 2019: CBI Uncovers Official Collusion: As the CBI probe progressed, evidence emerged of deliberate inaction and favors by certain officials that allowed the scam to thrive. In November 2019, CBI raids at 15 locations (including Bengaluru and nearby districts) were conducted as part of a multi-disciplinary investigation. The agency found that state CID officials had given IMA a clean chit and police officers failed to act on complaints, enabling IMA to continue collecting deposits. By December 2019, the CBI had identified a group of officials suspected of complicity.
19 December 2019: CBI Seeks Sanction to Prosecute Nimbalkar: CBI officially sought sanction from the Karnataka government to prosecute six officials, including two IPS officers – Hemant Nimbalkar (then IGP, CID Economic Offences) and Ajay Hilori (then DCP East). The other officials were: DySP E.B. Sridhara (who had been the inquiry officer under Nimbalkar in CID), Inspector M. Ramesh and SI P. Gowrishankar of Bengaluru’s Commercial Street Police (who worked under Hilori), and L.C. Nagaraj (then Assistant Commissioner, Revenue). CBI’s request outlined that these public servants “dishonestly favoured” the IMA group – for example, the CID inquiry under Nimbalkar’s supervision concluded (wrongly) that IMA’s schemes were legal, and DCP Hilori’s team failed to act on multiple complaints. By allowing IMA to operate unchecked, they allegedly enabled the scam to grow, leading to thousands more victims. (Notably, around this time, CBI teams had also searched Nimbalkar’s and Hilori’s residences as part of the investigation).
January 2020: State Government Approval: Under the amended Prevention of Corruption Act, prior approval was required to investigate and charge government servants. The Karnataka government granted the CBI sanction in early January 2020 (on Jan 7, 2020) to proceed against Nimbalkar and Hilori. This clearance allowed the CBI to formally name the officers as accused and deepen its probe into their actions.
1 February 2020: CBI FIR Naming Nimbalkar: Armed with sanction, the CBI registered a fresh FIR (dated Feb 1, 2020) specifically naming Hemant Nimbalkar, Ajay Hilori and the other officials for their alleged role in the scam. Shortly thereafter, the CBI booked Nimbalkar, Hilori and three other police officers under relevant charges (likely including criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act) for “extending favours and protecting the interests” of IMA’s promoters. By this time, Nimbalkar had been moved from the CID and was serving as ACP (Administration) in Bengaluru city, while Hilori was with the Reserve Police. The FIR also continued to include Mansoor Khan and key IMA directors as co-accused. Media reports highlighted that the CBI’s investigation “revealed the involvement” of Nimbalkar and others – essentially accusing them of corruption and willful negligence in handling earlier warnings.
October 2020: CBI Charge Sheet: After completing its investigation, the CBI filed a supplementary charge sheet in October 2020 against a total of 28 accused, which included Mansoor Khan, other IMA insiders, and five police officials (the two IPS and three lower-ranking officers). The charge sheet detailed how senior police officials did not act on complaints and instead gave IMA a clean chit, allowing the illegal deposit collection to continue. It formally leveled allegations of corruption and criminal misconduct against Nimbalkar and the others. Notably, by September 2020, the state government had given CBI an additional go-ahead under relevant laws (CrPC Section 197 and Karnataka Police Act) to prosecute Nimbalkar and Hilori in court. This meant CBI could move forward with court proceedings against them. (Nimbalkar’s wife, incidentally, is a politician — a fact occasionally noted in media — but the case against him was in his capacity as a police officer.)
December 2020: Interim Relief from Arrest: Facing the CBI case, Hemant Nimbalkar approached the High Court of Karnataka to quash the FIR and proceedings against him. In December 2020, a special bench of the High Court declined to halt the investigation, allowing the CBI probe to continue, but directed that no coercive action (arrest) be taken against Nimbalkar in the interim. This order by Justice John Michael Cunha on Dec 22, 2020 gave Nimbalkar temporary protection even as it kept the inquiry alive. The development was widely reported, with The Hindu and Times of India noting that the court refused to stay the probe but shielded the officer from immediate arrest.
March 19, 2021: High Court Quashes Proceedings: In a significant turn, the High Court eventually quashed the CBI’s case against Nimbalkar on March 19, 2021. The court found procedural and legal lapses in the case – media coverage indicates the HC held the CBI’s investigation “was illegal” and that the materials did not establish a prima facie case under the IPC or Prevention of Corruption Act against him. In effect, the FIR, charge sheet, and even the government sanctions related to Nimbalkar were nullified by this order (bringing the criminal proceedings to a halt at that time). Following this victory in court, Nimbalkar wrote to the state government in May 2021 to close the departmental inquiry that was instituted against him, citing the HC’s quashing of all charges.
August 2021: Supreme Court Stays HC Order: The CBI did not drop the matter – it challenged the High Court’s quash order in the Supreme Court. In August 2021, the Supreme Court stayed the Karnataka HC’s decision that had given relief to Nimbalkar. The apex court’s stay (granted on August 27, 2021) meant that the CBI’s charges against Hemant Nimbalkar were effectively reinstated pending further hearing. The Supreme Court also issued notice to Nimbalkar to respond to the CBI’s petition. As legal experts noted, this order implied that Nimbalkar “would continue to face criminal proceedings for now in the case registered by the CBI on February 1, 2020,” until the Supreme Court gives a final verdict.
2022–2023: Proceedings in Limbo, Departmental Inquiry: After the SC stay, the CBI’s case technically remained open, but there were no reports of major progress or a final Supreme Court judgment through 2022. Meanwhile, the Karnataka government pressed on with its departmental inquiry into Nimbalkar’s conduct. The state had earlier insisted that the departmental proceedings are independent of the CBI case and would continue despite the HC quash. A retired judge was appointed to examine the charges administratively. By mid-2023, this inquiry concluded that “none of the charges” against Nimbalkar were proven. Consequently, on July 31, 2023, the Karnataka government issued an order exonerating Hemant Nimbalkar of departmental charges related to the IMA scam. This decision formally closed the internal probe, clearing him of wrongdoing at least on administrative grounds. At this point, Nimbalkar was serving as an Additional DGP and heading the State Intelligence and Information & PR departments.
Late 2024: Calls to Revive the Investigation: By late 2024, the criminal case appeared to have stalled, with no active investigation underway. In December 2024, social activist T.J. Abraham petitioned the President of India (via the Karnataka Governor) urging that the CBI’s investigation against Nimbalkar be actively continued. Abraham pointed out that “prima facie, CBI has already found evidence against Nimbalkar in the IMA scam,” recounting how Nimbalkar had met with IMA’s Mansoor Khan and even written the letters in Jan and Mar 2019 that favored the company. He noted the sequence of FIRs and court orders – that Nimbalkar’s name was added in the second FIR (Feb 2020) after incriminating documents were seized, that the High Court quashed the case in 2021, and that the Supreme Court stayed that quash order. The activist alleged that despite the Supreme Court’s stay, “no investigation is happening now. It is stagnant… in cold storage,” and questioned why the CBI, now headed by the same Praveen Sood who was Karnataka DGP during the scam, had not proceeded further. These developments underscore that as of end-2024, the matter is unresolved – Nimbalkar remains free of any conviction or departmental penalty, but the CBI’s charges against him are technically still alive (pending final legal outcomes).
Legal and Investigative Proceedings Summary
Investigations: The initial investigation by the Karnataka SIT (mid-2019) first hinted at Hemant Nimbalkar’s role when evidence of official collusion surfaced (e.g. the Mansoor Khan laptop revelations). However, it was the CBI’s investigation (late 2019 onwards) that explicitly implicated Nimbalkar. The CBI alleged that as a senior CID officer, Nimbalkar abused his position by thwarting a proper inquiry into IMA when complaints and RBI warnings were emerging. By giving IMA a clean bill of health in early 2019, he and others “dishonestly favoured” the company, allowing it to continue collecting deposits illegally.
As part of its case, the CBI booked Nimbalkar under sections of the law dealing with criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, and corruption (Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988). Specifically, charges likely included IPC sections for conspiracy and dereliction of duty, and PC Act provisions for criminal misconduct by a public servant, given the allegation that he showed undue favours (even if direct bribe evidence was not public, the implication was of corrupt intent). Co-accused Ajay Hilori, for instance, was explicitly accused of accepting illegal gratification (bribes) from IMA in return for not acting on complaints, whereas Nimbalkar was accused of willfully protecting IMA’s interests by halting inquiries. The CBI raids in November 2019 were aimed at gathering proof of these corrupt dealings, and reportedly some documentary evidence (“seizures”) then strengthened the case against Nimbalkar, leading to the second FIR in Feb 2020.
CBI Chargesheet: By October 2020, the CBI’s supplementary chargesheet included Hemant Nimbalkar as an accused. The chargesheet outlined how Nimbalkar (along with the other officials) failed to take action despite multiple complaints and instead cleared IMA of wrongdoing, thereby facilitating the scam. It asserted that this conduct was not mere negligence but part of a larger conspiracy that abetted the fraud. With the state government’s sanction (Sept 2020) to prosecute obtained, the path was clear for a trial – pending the court’s acceptance of charges.
High Court Quashing (2021): The legal proceedings took a twist when Hemant Nimbalkar challenged the CBI case in the Karnataka High Court. He likely argued on technical grounds, such as lack of proper sanction at the time of initiating the probe, jurisdictional issues, and absence of prima facie evidence of quid pro quo. On March 19, 2021, the High Court ruled in his favor, quashing the FIR and charges against him. This was a major legal reprieve – essentially declaring that the case against Nimbalkar should not proceed. One reported reason was that the CBI had begun investigating and naming Nimbalkar before obtaining the mandatory sanction (though the sanction came later, the initial inquiry might have been deemed unauthorized). The HC also observed that the inquiry reports and materials did not clearly incriminate Nimbalkar in any cognizable offense. Thus, all orders against him (including chargesheet and sanctions) were quashed, freeing him from the case at that time.
Supreme Court (2021–Present): The CBI swiftly appealed this quashing to the Supreme Court, indicating they believed there was substantial evidence of wrongdoing. The Supreme Court’s interim order in August 2021 stayed the High Court judgment, which effectively revived the CBI’s case (legally, if not in active investigation). As of the latest updates (2024), the Supreme Court had not yet delivered a final judgment on the merits. The stay means the question of Nimbalkar’s culpability is still open, but in practice the CBI has been in a holding pattern – likely awaiting the SC’s final call before proceeding further. There has been no indictment or trial yet for Nimbalkar in the IMA case due to these pending legal steps.
Departmental Inquiry: Independently, the Karnataka State Home Department pursued a departmental inquiry (internal investigation for misconduct) based on the CBI’s findings. The CBI had recommended departmental action and “major penalty” against Hemant Nimbalkar as early as 2020
