3 min readMumbaiNov 30, 2013 02:36 AM IST
First published on: Nov 30, 2013 at 02:36 AM IST
AAMIR KHAN
In what can be called the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam’s first casualty,an investor lost his 68-year-old father on Thursday,as he couldn’t afford the expenses for his heart-valve operation. The man lost all his savings after the company suspended trading on July 31 following a directive from the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs. NSEL has been unable to settle Rs 5,600 crore dues of 148 members and brokers,representing 13,000 investor-clients.
Matunga resident Ashish Sheth had invested his lifetime savings in NSEL products. “My father was suffering from heart ailments and required to undergo a heart-valve operation. When I approached the hospital,I was told that the cost of the operation would be between Rs 13 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. I couldn’t afford the amount since I lost my savings as a result of the NSEL scam,” 38-year-old stockbroker told The Indian Express.
“Just a few days ago,he (father Dhirajlal Sheth) told me that the money had been lost so there was no need to run around so much. I had been running in and out of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) office for the past three months. Now,I have lost him,” said an emotional Sheth. He said that he was now worried about his son’s future.
“All my money is gone. I am worried about the future of my 21-month-old son,” he said. Like Sheth,Ketan Shah (46) had also invested in NSEL,but lost around 50 per cent of his savings. “Sheth and I had invested in NSEL together. While he lost all his savings,I lost half of mine. Even after four months,the guilty are scot-free. The company guaranteed 13 per cent interest on annual investment returns,” Shah rued.
Shah,who runs an export business,said he along with Sheth have filed a petition against NSEL and its board of directors in the Bombay High Court. In their petition,both Sheth and Shah urged the court to constitute an inter-governmental group of agencies comprising the EOW,Enforcement Directorate,Income-Tax department and other such agencies to conduct a thorough investigation and to trace the end user of the investors’ funds,which have been fraudulently dealt with.
The Bombay High Court had on Wednesday extended the interim anticipatory bail granted to Manish Pandey,North India head of NSEL,by two weeks. It said that the investigating agency should go after the “big fish” involved in the scam and find out where the money lost in the scam had gone.
aamir.khan@expressindia.com
Share
