NSEL scam: Court extends custody of three accused

The metropolitan magistrate's court on Wednesday remanded N K Proteins Ltd managing director Nilesh Patel, one of the defaulters in the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) crisis, to police custody till October 28.

According to police, N K Proteins was the first company to borrow Rs 350 crore from NSEL and now it owes the beleaguered bourse about Rs 850 crore to Rs 900 crore, which includes a principal amount of Rs 350 crore, interest, as well as other payable amount.

Mr Patel was arrested on Tuesday in connection with NSEL's crisis involving payments worth Rs 5,600 crore.

The court also remanded Amit Mukherjee, former assistant vice president of business development of NSEL, as well as Jay Bahukhandi, former assistant vice president of warehousing, to judicial custody till October 31.

Earlier, officials of the economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai police had arrested three accused in the case.

While Anjani Sinha, former managing director and CEO of NSEL, was held on October 17, Amit Mukherjee, former NSEL assistant vice president for business development, was nabbed on October 9 and the police arrested former assistant vice president Jay Bahukhandi, who was also in-charge of the know your customer (KYC) department, on October 10.

On September 30, the EOW filed an FIR in the case against NSEL directors including Jignesh Shah and Joseph Massey, promoters and defaulters.

All of them were charged with cheating, forgery, breach of trust, criminal conspiracy and other offences under the Indian Penal Code.

On October 1, the CBI too registered a preliminary inquiry in the case.

NSEL has been facing problems settling Rs 5,600 crore of dues to 148 members and brokers, representing 13,000 investor-clients, after it suspended trading on July 31 on government direction.