Mangaluru : Bharatiya Janata Party State co-spokesperson Anwar Manippady on Thursday asked Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to drop Food and Civil Supplies Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan from the Cabinet for his alleged links with IMA Jewels proprietor Mohammed Mansoor Khan.

Questioning the claim of Mr. Khan that he had sold his property on Serpentine Street in Richmond Town to Mr. Mansoor for ₹9.38 crore, Mr. Manippady said the Minister had earlier said it was a donation and followed it with a statement that he had taken loan. This changing statements of the Minister raises a lot of suspicion, he said.

Stating that the IMA group is a fraudulent company, Mr. Manippady said he had drawn attention of the government to fraudulent acts of the firm when he was campaigning for the BJP in Charamarajpet Assembly constituency during the 2018 Assembly elections.

Mr. Manippady said the Reserve Bank of India had asked the State government to investigate into IMA Jewels activities.

Mr. Manippady said Congress leader R. Roshan Baig was also under cloud following the purported audio clip of Mr. Mansoor in which he claims that Mr. Baig has refused to return ₹400 crore that he had lent.