Former NSEL official Amit Mukherjee held

NSEL's assistant vice-president (business development), Amit Mukherjee was removed from the post on August 20

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested Amit Mukherjee, former assistant vice-president of National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), in connection with the Rs 5,600-crore payment crisis at the bourse.

This is the first arrest in the NSEL payment case.

Earlier on Wednesday, the EOW had interrogated Mukherjee for a couple of hours.

Speaking to Business Standard, EOW deputy commissioner Balsing Rajput said, “Mukherjee has been arrested following a FIR (first information report) lodged against him last week. The FIR was lodged under sections 409, 465, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code and under the Information Technology Act.” He added Mukherjee would be produced before the court on Thursday morning.

An EOW official who was part of the special investigation team that probed the payment crisis said Jignesh Shah, chairman and managing director of NSEL promoter Financial Technologies had blamed Mukherjee and former NSEL managing director and chief executive Anjani Sinha for the fraud.

Amit Mukherjee was NSEL’s assistant vice-president (business development). He was removed from the post on August 20, following the first NSEL default. Six other employees, including Anjani Sinha, were also removed.

In an affidavit, Sinha had alleged Mukherjee headed the business development team, adding it was this team that had introduced buyers with bad credentials who diverted the money borrowed from NSEL investors to other businesses.