The Bombay high court on Friday granted cash bail to Jignesh Shah, the prime accused in the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam worth around Rs5,600 crore.
Justice Abhay Thipsay, taking into consideration the deteriorating condition of Shah who has been in custody since his arrest on May 7, allowed him to be released on a bail of Rs5 lakh, and directed him to appear before the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) every Monday and Thursday for two hours for the next two months.
The court observed that it would take a long time for the investigating agency to ascertain whether Shah benefited from the illegal transactions carried out on NSEL by investors and borrowers. It said, "The very fact that it would take quite some time to investigate whether the proceeds of the crime or a part thereof has been received by the applicant from the defaulting borrowers would weigh in favour of granting bail to the applicant, rather than weighing in favour of detaining him in custody till this aspect would be clear."
The court also came down heavily on the investors and the agents, saying they aren't lower middle class or middle class people, but businessmen, and were aware of the illegal transactions being carried out on NSEL.
Justice Thipsay said, "When there is a clear and obvious possibility that these people knew about the transactions, the deception, if any, caused to them cannot be said to have been due to the nature of the transactions... at the most, it can be said they were misled by propaganda that investing money in those transactions was safe."
The court also turned down Shah's contentions that he was not aware of the illegal transactions being carried out as he was a non-executive director of NSEL. The judge said, "On careful consideration and scrutiny of the matter, the only real allegation against the applicant (Shah) is that he allowed NSEL to violate the rules and regulations and its own business model, which enabled the borrowers to dupe the investors."
The EOW on August 4 had filed an over 9,000-page charge sheet in the trial court. It registered an FIR against Shah and others on September 30, 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 the Rs5,600-crore dues of over 200 member-brokers, representing 13,000 investor-clients. The EOW has invoked the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, which empowers the police to attach immovable assets of the accused.
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