Bombay HC strikes down non-bailable warrant against ex-NSEL director

The Bombay high court (HC) recently struck down a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against former National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) director, Vaidyalingam Hariharan, in connection with the case against the firm under provisions of the Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) (MPID) Act, 1999.

The special judge, MPID court, had issued the NBW against Hariharan on December 6, 2018.

He had approached the HC after the special court rejected his plea for cancellation of the NBW, despite having already appeared before the special court and the investigating officer.

Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police, which is investigating the purported scam involving NSEL, claimed that Hariharan was the whole-time director of NSEL from May 2005 to June 2011, and was also a key management person.

It also claimed that he had left the country to look after Singapore Exchange of Financial Technologies Singapore PTE Ltd, a subsidiary company of M/s 63 Moon Technologies Ltd.

EOW alleged that Hariharan was responsible for all criminal activities of NSEL, including illegal pair contracts; not keeping sufficient stocks in NSEL godowns; fictitious trades on its platform and misuse of funds. The NBW was issued against him, after he purportedly failed to respond to calls made and e-mails sent by the investigation officer.

The HC’s division bench of justice Indrajit Mahanty and justice AM Badar struck down the NBW issued against the 59-year-old, who now resides in New Jersey, USA, after noticing that he was not named as an accused in any of the five charge sheets filed by EOW so far.

Besides, the bench also took into consideration that the 59-year-old ex-NSEL director has co-operated with the investigating officer and had appeared before him on numerous occasions.

First Published: Aug 15, 2019 23:56 IST