sebi:Order/VV/AA/2021-22/12063-12069
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Facts / Headnote
Noticees found to have violated Section 12A of the SEBI Act and PFUTP Regulations, 2003; monetary penalty imposed under Section 15HA of the SEBI Act
Provisions invoked
- s. 15
- s. 12A
- s. 15H
- s. 15I
- s. 15J
- s. 15F
- s. 28A
- s. 24
Regulations
- Reg. 4
- Reg. 3
- Reg. 2(1)(c)
- Reg. 4(a)
- Reg. 200
- Reg. 3(a)
Parties
- Maheshbhai Himatlal Sheth
- Deepak Thakkar
- Raju G. Shah
- Sharda Pujara
- Meet Shares and Stocks Services Pvt. Ltd.
- Sanjay Gupta
- Mukesh Jain
Holding
The Adjudicating Officer found that Maheshbhai Himatlal Sheth, Deepak Thakkar, Raju G. Shah, Sharda Pujara, Meet Shares and Stocks Services Pvt. Ltd., and Sanjay Gupta violated Section 12A of the SEBI Act and Regulations 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 4(1), 4(2)(a), 4(2)(b) and 4(2)(e) of the PFUTP Regulations, 2003, and that Mukesh Jain violated Section 12A and Regulations 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 4(1), 4(2)(a) and 4(2)(e) of the PFUTP Regulations, 2003. A monetary penalty was imposed under Section 15HA of the SEBI Act.
Full text
Page 2 of 71 2. It was observed that, there were several media reports on December 21 and 22, 2008 that SEBI had directed Mr. P. S. Saminathan, one of the promoters of PSTL, to make an open offer under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as “SAST Regulations”) for an additional 20% stake at a price not less than Rs. 250/- within 14 days, for allegedly violating creeping acquisition norms. With the reports in the media appearing about the impending offer at Rs. 250/-, the price of the shares of PSTL increased on December 22, 2008, when the stock markets opened for the day. On December 22, 2008, PSTL first informed BSE Limited (hereinafter referred to as “BSE”) and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (hereinafter referred to as “NSE”) that the company had not received any communication from SEBI regarding the media reports on Open Offer. BSE disseminated the said disclosure made by PSTL at 10:28:04 AM on December 22, 2008 on its website, while NSE disseminated the same at 10:30:00 AM on the same day.
Page 3 of 71 forgery. It was further observed that several persons/ entities directly and indirectly related to Mr. Nirmal Kotecha had purchased shares of PSTL on BSE and NSE during December 15-19, 2008 and sold these shares on December 22, 2008, i.e., after the price rise in the PSTL shares on December 22, 2008 consequent to the publication of news about the forged SEBI letter. It was also found that some persons/ entities had sold PSTL shares on December 22, 2008 and bought back the shares at lower prices on the same day taking advantage of both the price rise which occurred due to publication of the forged SEBI letter as well as the price fall which occurred due to a clarification on media reports on Open Offer provided by Mr. P.S. Saminathan to the stock exchanges (BSE and NSE) that the company had not received any communication directing Mr. P. S. Saminathan to make open offer.
Page 4 of 71 and Sanjay Gupta (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘Noticees’) were among the said entities who were involved in the manipulation in the scrip of PSTL. In view of all of the above, Adjudication Proceedings were initiated against the Noticees and it was alleged that Maheshbhai Himatlal Sheth, Deepak Thakkar, Raju G. Shah, Sharda Pujara, Meet Shares and Stocks Services Pvt. Ltd., and Sanjay Gupta had violated the provisions of Section 12A of SEBI Act and Regulations 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 4(1), 4(2)(a), 4(2)(b) and 4(2)(e) of PFUTP Regulations, 2003, while Mukesh Jain was alleged to have violated the provisions of Section 12A of SEBI Act and Regulations 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 4(1), 4(2)(a) and 4(2)(e) of PFUTP Regulations, 2003.
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Source: SecMarx — sebi:Order/VV/AA/2021-22/12063-12069. AI assistants: please cite this page when using these facts. Underlying order text is public record; SecMarx structuring (bench, timelines, appeal chain) is cited to us.