The Managing Director of a top defaulting company linked to the Rs 5,600-crore payment crisis at the now defunct National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) has been arrested, taking the number of those held in the scam to six.
Surender Gupta, MD of PD Agroprocessors who also has links with Bollywood, was arrested yesterday, an official of Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said today.
PD Agroprocessors is the third largest defaulter that owes over Rs 600 crore to the commodity spot exchange, promoted by Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies.
Gupta, who is also Chairman and Promoter of another firm Dunar Foods Ltd, was produced before a local court which remanded him in police custody till March 12, police said.
He is also Director of White Rice Entertainment, which is producing an upcoming film, 'Gang of Ghosts'.
"Gupta, in connivance with other NSEL officials, obtained loans without submitting proper plans to return them. He was not forthcoming during investigations. He pumped in the money he raised from NSEL into Dunar Foods," the officer said.
"We also suspect he utilised the loan money in movie making," another police officer said.
Earlier, EOW had arrested five accused in the scam which came to light in July 2013. They are former NSEL CEO Anjani Sinha, two mid-level executives of the exchange Amit Mukherjee, Jay Bahukhundi; NK Proteins MD Nilesh Patel and Lotus Refineries CMD Arun Sharma, also a film financier.
NK Proteins and Lotus Refineries were among the biggest NSEL defaulters. A 9,100-page chargesheet against the five accused was filed in January.
However, the chargesheet did not mention the names of Shah (Promoter-Director of NSEL) and another Director Joseph Massey, who allegedly played key roles in the fraud.
After the crisis came to light, an FIR was filed on September 30 last year by EOW against Shah, Massey and others, charging them with cheating, forgery, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, among other offences.
The spot commodity bourse has been facing problems in settling Rs 5,600 crore dues of over 200 member-brokers, representing 13,000 investor-clients.
Police also suspect role of brokers in the scam as many of them sold NSEL commodities despite being in know of fraudulent practices in the spot exchange.
To recover investor money, EOW has invoked Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, which empowers police to attach immovable assets of the accused.
