The Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Court has directed the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) - Mumbai to investigate the involvement of former Forward Markets Commission (FMC) chairman Ramesh Abhishek in the NSEL case and submit the report in 40 days.
This was on the basis of an application filed by NSEL claiming that the EOW – Mumbai filed its final charge-sheet last December but did not investigate the role of FMC and that of Abhishek in the NSEL payment crisis.
In its detailed representation to the EOW in 2020, NSEL had highlighted several instances of negligence and failures on the part of Abhishek, which the agency did not investigate. Neeraj Sharma, the Managing Director and CEO, NSEL, said the exchange is hopeful that the investigation on the role of Abhishek will be fair and impartial and will unearth the motive behind the inactions.
The crisis was engineered by the ill-advice of the FMC chairman to the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) that NSEL had violated certain conditions of exemption granted to it under FCRA. This resulted in the DCA issuing a show-cause notice (SCN) to the exchange in April 2012. Despite a detailed reply to the SCN and a subsequent follow-up, there was no decision on the SCN until July 2013, when the exchange was abruptly told to stop functioning, resulting in the payment default crisis. The SCN, till date, remains unadjudicated, he said.