This is the second time Shah has been arrested in connection with this Ponzi scheme. He was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police in May 2014 and granted bail by the Bombay High Court in August. After his first arrest, Shah had resigned as the Managing Director of FTIL and become its Chairman-Emeritus.
The scam first came to light in August 2013, when NSEL had to suspend spot trading following instructions from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs asking it not to offer futures contracts. According to Economic Times, goods against which borrowers were raising money from 13,000 investors were virtually non-existent. Much of this money was either invested in real estate or siphoned off overseas.
The ED had prosecuted NSEL and 67 others in March last year in connection with the fraud. In a 20,000-page charge sheet, the investigating agency said NSEL funds were "illegally ploughed into purchase of private properties", reported PTI.
However, FTIL said Shah has fully cooperated with the investigation. "We fail to understand why such a coercive step was taken against by the Enforcement Directorate," said the company spokesperson.
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