New Delhi, Jul 28 (IANS): The National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) said on Wednesday that an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has paved the way for criminal investigation against NSEL defaulter LOIL Group and the subsequent arrest of its owners, Balbir Uppal and Janak Raj Singh, for the recovery of Rs 720.31 crore defaulted money.

In a major boost to NSEL's fight against defaulters and its efforts in recovering the defaulted money, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the protection given by the Fatehgarh Sahib District Court from criminal investigation in a civil suit against Janak Raj Singh, the owner of LOIL Group of Companies.

While staying the district court order, the high court expressed its displeasure at the lower court order which acted in favour of Janak Raj Singh.

Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had come down heavily on LOIL Group, forcing them to withdraw their 'frivolous' and 'mischievous' petitions.

LOIL Group is one of the largest defaulters in the Rs 5,600 crore NSEL crisis with liability of Rs 720.31 crore.

In a statement, the NSEL said the liability of Rs 720.31 crore of the LOIL Group has been confirmed not only by the high court committee appointed by the Bombay High Court, but also by the forensic auditor appointed by the Economic Offences Wing, Mumbai, as well as the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

The company said the recent order has paved the way for criminal investigation and arrest of LOIL owners Balbir Uppal and Janak Raj Singh, who have a history of misrepresenting facts before the courts to tilt ex-parte orders in their favour.

"All the defaulters who were let go scot-free by the then Forward Markets Commission (FMC) Chairman Ramesh Abhishek in 2013 in conspiracy with the then Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), K.P. Krishnan, and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, the NSEL is getting them booked under the law one by one at various high courts," the NSEL said.

"The NSEL crisis was an engineered crisis. Though it was solvable, it was not solved by then FMC Chairman Ramesh Abhishek who conspired with K.P. Krishnan and P. Chidambaram. Even though EOW-Mumbai had submitted its report, Ramesh Abhishek deliberately did not take any action against the defaulters and brokers. He let every broker and defaulter escape scot-free," it added.

Despite being unjustly targeted, the company said, NSEL had been continuously striving to recover the defaulted amount from the 22 defaulting entities, which has resulted in obtaining the decree of Rs 3,364.71 crore and crystallisation of liability by the high court committee to the tune of over Rs 930 crore.

"The decrees are under execution at the respective jurisdictions across India, where the NSEL has achieved injunction/attachment in the execution proceedings as well," the company said, adding that this entire process has been possible due to the single-handed efforts of the NSEL.