Bombay high court defers bail plea of NSEL's Jignesh Shah

The Bombay high court on Thursday deferred till August 5 passing order on the bail application filed by Jignesh Shah, promoter of National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL), arrested in the Rs5,600-crore commodities exchange scam.

Justice Abhay Thipsay, who reserved the order on Shah's plea, was informed by the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) that it would be filing the charge sheet against Shah on or before August 4. The court, thus, noted, "Once the charge sheet is filed, the application can be decided in a more satisfactory way."

The court also directed EOW to file a copy of the charge sheet in HC when its officials file it before the trial court. If they fail to file the report by the next date, the court said it would consider passing an order then.

Shah has been under arrest from May 7 in connection with the Rs5,574.34-crore fraud at NSEL. EOW filed the FIR on September 30 against NSEL director Shah and others, charging them with cheating, forgery, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, among other offences.

The spot commodity bourse, promoted by the Shah-led Financial Technologies, has been facing problems in settling Rs5,600-crore dues of over 200 member brokers, representing 13,000 investor-clients. EOW has invoked the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, which empowers the police to attach immovable assets of the accused.