NSEL Case: Court Reserves Order on Jignesh Shah's Bail Plea

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday reserved its order until the nexdt day on the bail plea of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) promoter Jignesh Shah arrested in the Rs 5,000-crore National Stock Exchange Ltd (NSEL) scam.

Presence of a large number of investors in the courtroom caused a bit of commotion on Monday, with some of them saying: "No bail to Shah."

Justice Abhay Thipsay reprimanded them and warned them not to make noise when the order would be pronounced on Tuesday.

Mr Shah has challenged the order of the trial court refusing him bail.

The lower court on June 24 rejected Mr Shah's bail plea on the ground that investigation was still on and he could tamper with evidence or hamper the probe if released.

Mr Shah's lawyers - Advocates Mahesh Jethmalani and Aniket Nikam - argued that he had played no role in the scam, in which his employees might have been involved, as he personally had no knowledge of what was happening.

A group of investors has also approached the court opposing bail to Mr Shah.

As per Mr Shah's lawyers, after his arrest on May 7, he helped the investigating agency (Mumbai police) by supplying documents and disclosing all the information he had, so there was no question of tampering with evidence.

Mr Shah has also argued that he was a non-executive director at NSEL and was not involved in its day-to-day operations.

Mr Shah came under the scanner of the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai police and other agencies last year when NSEL, part of the Financial Technologies (India) Limited group founded by him, faced a payment crisis as nearly 18,000 of its investors allegedly lost millions of rupees.