The Mumbai Police on Monday filed a 9,800-page charge-sheet against five accused-arrested in connection with the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) scam, involving a payment default of Rs 5,600 crore.
The charge-sheet included the list of attached properties of the arrested and wanted-accused, frozen bank account details, information of physical stock available in the warehouses, and statements of 297 witnesses, said Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy.
The charge-sheet, however, did not mention the names of the wanted-accused. “The probe in the case is not yet over. Some more charge-sheets will follow at a later stage. One should not feel that we have given anybody a clean chit just because their names did not appear in the first charge-sheet,” said Roy.
“Jignesh Shah (promoter and director of NSEL) is an accused in the case and fully involved in the scam and his name is also there in the FIR,” the officer said in response to a query.
The charge-sheet has also thrown light on the modus operandi of the crime, how the management was hand-in-glove with the defaulters, how certain borrowing companies appointed dummy directors, and manipulation of books by various companies, Roy added.
The FIR was lodged on September 30 by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against directors Jignesh Shah, Joseph Massey and others, charging them with cheating, forgery, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, among other offences.
The police suspect brokers played an equal role in the scam as many sold NSEL commodities despite knowing about the fraudulent practices taking place at the spot exchange.