Ex-SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch, 5 others move Bombay HC against stock market ‘fraud’ FIR

Former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Madhabi Puri Buch, along with five others on Monday moved the Bombay high court, seeking to quash the recent order of a special court directing an FIR against them for alleged stock market fraud.

The Bombay high court will be hearing their pleas on March 4, 2025, news agency PTI reported.

The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) meanwhile has been asked to not act on the special court order until then.

What is the case about?

An Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court judge, Shashikant Eknathrao directed the ACB to register an FIR against former SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and five other officials, alleging stock market fraud and regulatory violations.

The court said that it will monitor the probe and also sought a status report within 30 days.

The other officials apart from Buch include Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sundararaman Ramamurthy, its then chairman and public interest director Pramod Agarwal and three whole time SEBI members including Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney.

Another PTI report quoted SEBI as saying in its statement that it “would be initiating appropriate legal steps to challenge this order and remains committed to ensuring due regulatory compliance in all matters.”

Meanwhile, the BSE’s statement termed the application as “frivolous and vexatious in nature.”

The complainant of the case was Sapan Shrivastava, a media reporter and the allegations are about the fraudulent listing of a company named Cals Refineries Ltd on the BSE in 1994 with the active connivance of regulatory authorities, particularly the Sebi, without compliance under the SEBI Act, 1992 and its rules and regulations.

The complainant alleged that the accused persons engaged in round-tripping, insider trading, and price manipulation, misleading investors into believing the company was financially sound, according to the report.

However, the BSE said that the officials named in the application were not even in their respective positions at the time of listing and were not connected with the company at all, according to the report.

“The application is frivolous and vexatious in nature, the BSE said, adding it “is initiating necessary and appropriate legal steps in this regard”. The BSE remains committed to upholding regulatory compliance and ensuring transparency, it said. India’s first woman Sebi chief Buch completed her three-year tenure on Friday.