Sebi slaps Rs 85 lakh fine on 21 entities for fraudulent Rich Universe trade

According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the entities were connected to each other, had dealt in large quantities in shares of Rich Universe and indulged in fraudulent trading in 2010.

In its order, Sebi slapped a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on Scope Vyapar for playing "the lead role in the entire scheme of the manipulation".

A penalty of Rs three lakh each has been imposed on the remaining 20 entities, which according to the regulator "played a supporting role".

Some of these entities are Signet Vinimay, Sankalp Vincom, Runicha Merchants and Anushree Trade Link.

Sebi had conducted a probe into the alleged irregularity in trading in the shares of Rich Universe (earlier known as Rich Capital and Financial Services) for the period February 1 to September 24, 2010.

During the probe period, the shares of the firm opened at Rs 56.75 on February 01, 2010, reached a high of Rs 119.90 on September 02, 2010 and closed at Rs 111.80 on September 24, 2010 with abnormal volume.

Sebi alleged that the 21 entities had entered into off market transactions in large quantities of the company's shares and executed reversal / circular / synchronised trading among themselves in the market thereby created artificial volume and false / misleading appearance of trading.

"They also executed synchronised trades at incrementally higher prices to create artificial price rise in the scrip of Rich

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