High court holds FT Tower, Jignesh Shah's stake as security

Move comes a week after Jignesh Shah's residential bungalow was attached by EOW, Bombay HC, as a security in the Rs 5,600 cr payment default case of NSEL

A week after Jignesh Shah’s residential bungalow, R Square, was attached by the city police’s economic offences wing (EOW), the high court here on Thursday ordered the iconic FT Tower held as security in the Rs 5,600-crore payment default case of National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).

Shah is head of the Financial Technologies group, which promoted NSEL. In an interim order, the court also decided to hold his 48 per cent stake in Financial Technologies (India) as security. It was hearing the case filed by MMTC Ltd for recovery of its investment of Rs 230 crore. A final hearing is scheduled for January 24.

On December 4, EOW invoked a section of a stringent law and attached Shah’s bungalow in Mumbai’s upmarket Juhu, along with earlier attachment of several immovable properties of other NSEL directors, including Joseph Massey, Shreekant Jawalgekar and past chairman Shankarlal Guru. EOW is also looking into the role of MMTC and the Forward markets Commission in the entire payment default. it might seek help from the Central Bureau of Investigation on whether MMTC followed the due-diligence norms prior to investment in NSEL or not.