Jignesh Shah's custody extended to Monday

The police argued in the court that it further wants to question him in the NSEL scam

A court on Thursday extended the police custody to Monday of Jignesh Shah, chairman of Financial Technologies (India) Limited, and Shreekant Javalgekar, former managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Multi Commodity Exchange, as the police wanted to further question the two on Indian Bullion Market Association (IBMA)'s transactions on National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). IBMA is a subsidiary of the exchange.

Shah and Javalgekar were arrested on May 7 by the economic offences wing of the city police in connection with the Rs 5,600-crore NSEL scam.

The public prosecutor on Thursday said the police needed to continue questioning on transactions by IBMA on NSEL. He added after making losses on NSEL, MCX squared those off. This turned IBMA's losses into profits.

Defence counsel Mahesh Jethmalani said it was a bailable offence. He said Anjani Sinha, the former MD and CEO of NSEL, was behind the scam. He said Shah was not involved in the day-to-day activities of the exchange and that there was a ‘China Wall’ between the board and management.

EOW, arrested Shah and Javalgekar on charges of criminal conspiracy. The police found that the volumes of trades conducted at NSEL were linked with the income of FTIL and the promoter of NSEL was able to open other exchanges from the income generated through the NSEL platform. The arrests have been made under MPID Act.

Javalgekar had been associated with NSEL for the past 10 years and his arrest was also due to his links with the Indian Bullion Market Association.