Ex-SEBI chief, 5 others move Bombay HC seeking to quash FIR against them for alleged stock market fraud

Mumbai: Former Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, BSE MD Sundararaman Ramamurthy and four other officials on Monday moved the Bombay High Court, seeking to quash a special court order directing FIR against them for alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations.

The pleas were mentioned before a single bench of Justice S G Dige for urgent hearing.

The bench said it would hear the pleas on Tuesday and added that until then, the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which was directed to probe the case, shall not act upon the special court order.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for Buch and three current whole time SEBI directors - Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney.

Senior counsel Amit Desai appeared for the Bombay Stock Exchange's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sundararaman Ramamurthy and its former chairman and public interest director Pramod Agarwal.

The pleas sought quashing of the special court order, terming it as illegal and arbitrary.

A special court on March 1 directed the ACB to register an FIR against Buch and the others for alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations.

There is prima facie evidence of regulatory lapses and collusion, requiring a fair and impartial probe, the special ACB court judge, Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar, said in the order.

The ACB court said it will monitor the probe and sought a status report within 30 days.

The order was passed on a complaint filed by Sapan Shrivastava, a media reporter, seeking investigation into the alleged offences committed by the accused, involving largescale financial fraud, regulatory violations and corruption.

The allegations pertain to the fraudulent listing of a company on the stock exchange in the year 1994 with the active connivance of regulatory authorities, particularly the Securities and Exchange Board of India, without compliance under the SEBI Act, 1992 and rules and regulations thereunder.

The Sebi in a statement on Sunday said it "would be initiating appropriate legal steps to challenge this order and remains committed to ensuring due regulatory compliance in all matters".

The market regulator said the application, which sought directions to the police to register an FIR and investigate alleged irregularities in granting listing permission to a company on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1994, was allowed by the court "even though these officials were not holding their respective positions at the relevant point of time".

The Bombay Stock Exchange has in a statement termed the application as "frivolous and vexatious in nature".