Sebi notice: Rupani denies foul play

The news of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) penalising 22 corporate firms, including Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani's Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) for manipulative trading through a listed firm called Sarang Chemicals, saw the chief minister on the defensive on Thursday.

Reports suggested that market regulator Sebi had imposed a combined penalty of Rs 6.9 crore on 22 entities which, investigations revealed, were "connected or related". It had also issued a common show-cause notice to all the 22 firms in May 2016 for what it called was violation of Sebi Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (PFUTP). Rupani had taken over as chief minister of Gujarat on August 7, 2016.

"I have not received any Sebi notice. The said Sebi order was one-sided and incorrect. One of the persons named in the list had approached SAT, which is a body above the Sebi. The SAT has ruled that the Sebi order was incorrect," Rupani told mediapersons.

According to reports in a section of media, the Sebi, in its order on its website on October 27, had alleged manipulative transactions by Rupani between January and June, 2011. The reports quoted Sebi as saying that Rupani's HUF and 17 other entities "had indulged in artificial volume rise/creating misleading appearance of market/getting unlawful or unfair gain", and Rupani had been asked to pay a penalty of Rs 15 lakh within 45 days.

The page is currently unavailable on the Sebi website.