NSEL crisis: Jignesh Shah, ex-CEO Sinha blame each other

Jignesh Shah, the promoter of National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), and its former CEO Anjani Sinha have traded charges in connection with the multi-crore payment crisis at the crippled bourse which has affected over 13,000 investors.

The drama took place as officials from the economic offences wing of Mumbai Police grilled Mr Shah in the presence of Mr Sinha, who is in police custody in connection with the fraud.

This was a second time when Mr Shah, chairman and managing director of NSEL promoter Financial Technologies, was questioned by police.

During questioning, Mr Sinha squarely put the blame for the crisis on Mr Shah and other board members, saying he had merely executed the directions issued by them, Joint Police Commissioner Himanshu Roy told reporters on Friday.

Mr Shah, on the other hand, held Mr Sinha responsible for the payment crisis, which came to light in July, he said.

So far, police have arrested four persons, including Mr Sinha, in the Rs 5,600-crore scam and several matters had come to light during interrogation, Mr Roy added.

"We wanted to verify the details given by the arrested accused and hence we called Jignesh for questioning," he said.

Apart from Mr Sinha, the others arrested in the case are Amit Mukherjee, Jay Bahukhundi - both former assistant VPs at NSEL - and Nilesh Patel, managing director of N K Proteins, one of the biggest defaulters of NSEL.

The arrests were made between October 9 and 22. While Mr Sinha and Mr Patel are in police remand, the other two are in judicial custody.

According to the police, Mr Shah appeared before EOW officials at about 11.30 A.M. and his questioning continued till 6 P.M.

"He will be called again if required," police said.

Mr Sinha, Mr Patel and Mr Shah were brought face-to-face during the questioning. Police, however, did not discuss the claims made by Mr Patel.

"In an affidavit filed in court, Sinha had blamed himself, besides the NSEL board, for the payment crisis. He, however, filed another affidavit with police days before his arrest in which he put the entire blame on Shah," Mr Roy added.