Stock market ‘fraud’: Court orders FIR against ex-Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch, 5 others

Mumbai: A special court here has directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR against former Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and five other officials in connection with 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 passed on Saturday.
The court order also noted that the allegations disclose a cognisable offence, necessitating an investigation.
The inaction by law enforcement (agencies) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) necessitates judicial intervention under the provisions of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code), it added.
Apart from Buch, the other officials against whom the court has ordered registration of the FIR are BSE’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sundararaman Ramamurthy, its then chairman and public interest director Pramod Agarwal and Sebi’s three whole time members Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney.

The court said it will monitor the probe, and sought a status report (of the case) within 30 days.
The complainant, a media reporter, had sought an investigation into the alleged offences committed by the proposed accused, involving largescale financial fraud, regulatory violations and corruption.