Sebi relies on SC’s Sahara order to nail fraudsters in R1,500-cr ‘StockGuru’ case
Besides, these entities would also have to refund the entire amount collected fraudulently from gullible investors, along with an interest of 15% per annum, Sebi said in an order after investigating the case.
The order follows a Sebi probe into complaints received by it regarding one Lokeshwar Dev and his accomplice Priyanka Dev, both of whom used several aliases, fraudulently raising more than R1,500 crore through sale of preference shares of a company named SGI Research & Analysis.
Names used by them included Ulhas Prabhakar Khaire and Raksha J Urs, Siddharth Jay and Maya Siddharth Marathe, Dr Raj and Priya Zaveri, Dr Rakesh Kumar and Prachi Maheshwari.
A Sebi probe into the case found that the fraudsters had tricked the investors into putting in their money with a promise of 18% dividend, although the real assured dividend was a minuscule 0.12%.
Besides, the money might have mostly been collected in cash to avoid any regulatory glare, as SGI’s bank account had entries for a total amount of just about R44 lakh towards subscription of its shares by 162 persons. However, this was enough for Sebi to enforce the norms that make any offer for subscription of shares or debentures to 50 or more persons a public issue, thus making it mandatory
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