From Raipur To Thane Jail, Its Been A Long Journey

From living in a chawl in central suburbs it had been one long journey for Big Bull Harshad Mehta. Hailing from Raipur, the capital of the new Chhattisgarh state, Harshad became the bellwether of the Indian stock markets in the late 1980s and 1990s.

In the build-up to the 1992 stock market scam, Harshad had concentrated on select counters like ACC and Apollo Tyres, moving their prices to unbelievable heights before they came down crashing like a house of cards.

He moved ACC from Rs 300 in 1989 to Rs 10,000 per share in the 1992 boom period when the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex had risen 4,200 points, from less than 800 points in just 12 months.

Harshad and his group of brokers took advantage of banking loopholes that allowed them to borrow money and pump it into the stock markets.

These huge funds were used to create and pump up demand for obscure shares, Karnataka Ball Bearings and Mazda Leasing being some of the most famous examples Harshad had the uncanny knack of hitting the headlines.

Fresh from a stint in jail, he shocked the world by claiming that he had bribed the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. He even called a press conference to show that he could carry Rs 1 crore in currency inside a suitcase!

Though debarred from the markets, Harshad continued to be in touch with the profession, launching the first web site -- harshad.com -- to dispense stock market tips.

He also came up with his own columns in newspapers offering tips on shares and started teaching in Lala Lajpat Rai College where he did his graduation. Harshad made his recommendations in flamboyant style. Leos, said his bio-data on the Internet, are naturally flamboyant.

Mehta even planned to limit information to his band of followers who would enroll in 'Harshad Mehta Fan Club & the Investors Club'.

To prospective club members, he said: "You will receive insights on the market exclusively and tips on the market exclusively as well or ahead of the posting on the web-site for general consumption. As a member of the club, we will try and ensure that good markets or bad, you make money on the market."

Mehta, 47, is survived by his wife, two sons and two brothers, Ashwin and Sudhir. The Big Bull got embroiled in a series of cases following which he was lodged in Thane Central Jail.

He developed chest pain at around 11 pm on Sunay night and was shifted to Thane civil hospital where he breathed his last at 12.40 am, police sources said. According hospital officials, Harshad collapsed when the doctor was examining him.

On December 21, a special court had rejected the bail plea of Harshad and his brothers and remanded them to judicial custody till January 4, 2002.

He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on November 9 with his brothers, Ashwin and Sudhir, for alleged misappropriation of Rs 250 crore from 2.7 million 'missing' shares of 90 blue-chip companies.

Harshad and Ashwin claimed that these shares were either lost or stolen from them. The missing shares included those of blue-chip firms like ACC (3 lakh shares), Tata Tea (1.22 lakh), Apollo Tyres (3.74 lakh), Reliance (2.95 lakh), Ashok Leyland (18,000) and Larsen and Toubro (48,000).

They filed a petition seeking that the custodian should restore the shares to their account along with benefits accrued over the years.

The special court headed by Justice Kapadia in turn called in the CBI, which interrogated several brokers, employees, bodyguards and relatives of the Mehta family.

The CBI obtained confessions revealing that Harshad and his family had themselves fraudulently transferred the shares to various relatives, associates and employees and later introduced the benami shares into the market.