Police frame charges against Jignesh Shah in NSEL scam

MUMBAI After recording statements of 270 witnesses, the Mumbai police on Monday filed a 9,360-page chargesheet against Jignesh Shah, alleged mastermind behind theRs 5,600-crore NSEL fraud, charging him with criminal misappropriation, forgery of documents, inducement for cheating and criminal conspiracy under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Shah, who is in judicial custody, was also charged with violations of the rights of depositors under provisions of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act, Rajvardhan, additional commissioner of police, EOW, told the media. The police have applied stringent provisions of the MPID Act in the NSEL case to recover funds worth Rs 5,600 crore from around 24 defaulters that belong to more than 13,000 investors. “Today, the Economic Offences Wing/Mumbai Police has filed a chargesheet against Jignesh Shah, director of our company.

We would be deeply examining the charges and appropriately defending it legally. We have full confidence in the Indian judiciary and that justice would be done,” an FTIL spokesperson said. The chargesheet was filed by the police in the MPID court a day before Shah completed the customary 90 days of arrest within which the police had to file the document. Shah’s bail application is being heard in the Bombay High Court.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has to issue the chargesheet copy to the HC which will hear the bail matter on the charges. The matter in the HC will come up for hearing on Tuesday. Shah’s lawyers led by prominent senior counsel Mahesh Jethmalani have argued that as non-executive director, he had no role in perpetrating the scam or events that led to it.

They have pinned the blame for the scam on Anjani Sinha, former MD & CEO of NSEL, who was released on bail recently. So far, the police have secured moveable and immoveable property of Rs 4,902.18 crore belonging to 24 defaulters and Jignesh Shah, among others.

Around half of these properties, including Shah’s shareholding of around 45% in Financial Technologies (India), the NSEL promoter, have been transferred from police custody to that of the competent authority under MPID, Rajvardhan said. The scam was allegedly perpetrated by 24 counterparties, who, in collusion with certain NSEL staff, raised funds from investors on NSEL against commodities, which were later found inadequate in certain cases and absent in most. This led to the massive default.