Sebi slaps Rs 87 lakh fine on 15 people for manipulating share prices

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Friday slapped fines totalling Rs 87 lakh on 15 individuals for manipulating the share prices of Kapil Raj Finance.

The Securities and exchange board of India (Sebi) investigated the trading activities of certain entities in the scrip of Kapil Raj Finance Ltd (KRJFL), a BSE-listed entity.

The investigation was mainly to ascertain whether there was any alleged trading by the suspected entities during the period from January to April 2018.

Sebi's Adjudicating Officer G Ramar said, "I note that they (individuals) engaged in circular trading without change of beneficial ownership, contributing to nearly 80 per cent of circular trading volume, and thereby creating 22.2 per cent of trading volume, which was non-genuine and artificial, which created a misleading appearance of trading".

By creating artificial volumes, they lured investors into trading in the scrip of KRJFL, he added.

Through such acts, the individuals have flouted the PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) norms.

Accordingly, Sebi imposed a fine of Rs 8 lakh each on Divyaben Hiteshbhai Gangani and Pardhi Dhirubhai Khanabhai, Rs 7 lakh each on Bhavin Natwarlal Panchal, Deepak Parsharam Salvi and Ravikumar Vinodbhai Parmar.

The markets regulator also levied a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on Nikhil Kiritbhai Panchal, Naileshkumar Ganeshbhai Prajapati, Jay Kamleshbhai Bhavsar, Krunal Bhupendrabhai Makwana, Nilesh Kishanbhai Pandya and Chandakant Sevantilal Thakkar.

Dashrathbhai Maheshbhai Vada, Manjulaben Bhaveshkumar Rangee, Bhumikaben Makvana Bhumikaben and Dineshbhai Vaghela were also penalised by the regulator.

In four separate orders on Thursday, Sebi imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh each on Vyomesh Patel, Yogendra Bhupendra Vekaria, Vipul Pushpavadan Shah and Vinay Madhukar Chavan for indulging in non-genuine trades in illiquid stock options segment on BSE.

The regulator observed a large-scale reversal of trades in the illiquid stock options segment of BSE, leading to the creation of artificial volumes on the bourse.

It conducted an investigation into the trading activities of certain entities engaged in the segment on BSE from April 2014 to September 2015, the regulator said in the order.