D R Mehta Denies Links With Bhansali

Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman D R Mehta yesterday denied having any close links with CRB group chief C R Bhansali.

Refuting allegations of Bhansali donating sums to the Jaipur Foot Foundation made in a news weekly, Mehta said he did not receive any money from the scam-tainted group. He denied that he was the chairman of the Jaipur Foot Foundation.

This was for the first time that Mehta spoke to the press explicitly about his relations with the Bhansalis and the CRB issue.

Mehta also said that the statement made by Bhansali that he regularly visited his house is not true. People used to visit my place to exchange greetings on Diwali and other festive occasions. Bhansali did visit my house. However, these were courtesy visits on festive occasions. He visited uninvited, Mehta clarified.

 

There is one B P Jain (a recipient of the Padamshree award) who is the chairman of the Jaipur Foot Foundation. I am not even on the board of the foundation. If he has donated to the Jaipur Foot foundation that does not mean I have received any money. I have never taken a single paisa for my work with the foundation.

Mehta said that Bhansali has not deposited any money in the Jaipur office of the foundation. There are 10 offices of the foundation nationwide. He has given money probably to one of them, he added.

He also said that the foundation is a society and elections are held regularly to elect the board members. The foundation is not my personal property. It also receives donations from the government of India, Rotary Clubs and other charitable organisations, he said.

Commenting on the allegation made about Bhansalis close links with Sebi officials, Mehta said: Can anybody tell me how he has benefited because of these so-called close links with Sebi officials.

In fact, Sebi was the only regulatory body to have taken action against him. It was because of our action that he was not allowed to bring out any issue as a merchant banker in the past 10 months. It was again because of Sebis action that he could not bring out any mutual fund scheme in the market. We have done our bit to protect the interests of the investor.