Sebi slaps Rs 77 lakh fine on 16 entities for manipulating share price

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday slapped fines totalling Rs 77 lakh on 16 entities for manipulating the share price and violating other norms in the matter of Gayatri Sugars Ltd.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) conducted an investigation in the matter of Gayatri Sugars Ltd (GSL), a BSE-listed company.

The probe was to ascertain whether there was any violation of Sebi norms and PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) rules by certain entities for the period from April 10-23, 2018.

Sebi's Adjudicating Officer G Ramar said, "I note that Noticee 5 to 16 have created misleading appearance of trading in the scrip of (GSL) by doing trades within them. Further, Noticee 4 made a deliberate attempt to increase and manipulate the price of the scrip."

Apart from this, I also note that Noticee 1, 2 and 3 failed to reply to the summons issued by the regulator to them, Ramar added.

Through such acts, the entities have violated the regulatory norms and PFUTP regulations.

Accordingly, Sebi imposed a penalty of Rs 6 lakh on Zodiac Solutions, Rs 5 lakh each on Mehul Tulsidas Simaria, Mohan Project Contractors, Suudeep Luniya, Aakansha Rajendra Surana, Aayush Rajendra Surana, Anita Mahendra Surana, Beena R Surana.

Mahendra N Surana HUF, Mahendra Nihalchand Surana, Rajendra N Surana HUF, Rajendra Nihalchand Surana, Ashik Dhirubhai Sanghavi and Vishal Kiranbhai Sheth were also penalised Rs 5 lakh each by the markets watchdog.

Also, the regulator levied a fine of Rs 3 lakh each on Mangalbhai Valabhai Rathod and Ronakkumar R Patel, the order said.