NSEL crisis: EOW arrests Lotus Refineries chief Arun Sharma

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police today arrested Lotus Refineries chairman and managing director Arun Sharma in connection with the ongoing payment crisis at the crippled National Spot Exchange (NSEL).

The EOW has already arrested four accused - Anjani Sinha, Jai Bahukhandi, Amit Mukherjee and Nilesh Patel - in connection with the Rs 5,574.35 crore payment default.

Interestingly, Mr Sharma had earlier lodged a case against NSEL seeking Rs 2,500 crore from the exchange, while NSEL claimed the company owed Lotus Refineries Rs 250 crore.

However, it eventually turned out that Lotus Refineries is one of the biggest defaulters.

"We have arrested Arun Sharma of Lotus Refineries and are questioning him," additional commissioner Rajvardhan said.

Last month, the NSEL had declared Sharma as a defaulter, who is also embroiled in controversy over his role as a financier to Bollywood movie 'Satya 2'.

As per the pay-in/pay-out statement of the NSEL, the net outstanding of Lotus Refineries is Rs 252.56 crore, of which as on October 15, the company had cleared dues amounting to Rs 8lakh.

The NSEL had filed a complaint against the company with the police, who in turn had issued a lookout notice against the company's promoter.

In an affidavit, Anjani Sinha, former MD and CEO of the NSEL had said that Lotus Refineries "did a big fraud by manipulating its stock record and by issuing fake bills".

Mr Sinha said that Lotus's was the first case where the NSEL system was jeopardised.

Meanwhile, the EOW said it has frozen immovable assets of Anjani Sinha, Jai Bahukhandi, Amit Mukherjee and Nilesh Patel.