Madhabi Puri Buch
| Photo Credit: ANI
Former SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch and five others on Monday (March 3, 2025) moveed the HC seeking to quash and order directing FIR against them for alleged stock market fraud.
The petitions were mentioned before a single-judge bench of Justice S.G. Dige for urgent hearing. The court scheduled the matter for hearing on Tuesday and directed the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) not to act on the special court’s order until then.
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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented Ms. Buch along with three current SEBI whole-time directors—Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G, and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney. Senior advocate Amit Desai appeared for BSE MD and CEO Sundararaman Ramamurthy and its former chairman and public interest director, Pramod Agarwal.
The pleas termed the special court’s March 1 order as “illegal and arbitrary.” The order, issued by special ACB court judge Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar, directed the ACB to register an FIR, citing prima facie evidence of regulatory lapses and collusion that warranted a fair and impartial investigation. The court also stated that it would monitor the probe and sought a status report within 30 days.
The case stems from a complaint filed by journalist Sapan Shrivastava, alleging large-scale financial fraud, regulatory breaches, and corruption. The accusations relate to the alleged fraudulent listing of a company on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1994, purportedly facilitated by SEBI and other regulatory authorities without adherence to the SEBI Act, 1992, and its associated rules.
In response, SEBI issued a statement on Sunday, asserting that it would take legal action to challenge the order while reaffirming its commitment to regulatory compliance. The market regulator also pointed out that the accused officials were not in their respective positions at the time of the alleged violations.
The Bombay Stock Exchange dismissed the allegations, calling the application “frivolous and vexatious.”
(With PTI inputs)
Published – March 03, 2025 12:53 pm IST
