According to franchisees of Century Consultants, there are around five brokers alleged to be involved in circular trading along with Arvind Johri.

Market sources said that Arvind Johri has sold shares of Cyberspace Ltd through these brokers on a spot basis only to buy them back again through his broking arm Century Consultants. He again delivered these shares to the brokers involved in order to avail cash discount for spot delivery of cash in return for the shares. The brokers, who should have received the money in return for these shares, got stuck owing to the withholding of pay-out of funds and securities by the stock exchanges.

It is alleged that the Mr Johri had recievd a cash discount of around 2-3 per cent for the spot delivery of cash from these brokers. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has already initiated an investigation with respect to trading in shares of Cyberspace and decided to withhold the pay-out of funds and securities till the investigation is over.

These brokers had also approached the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for the release of funds. However, the regulatory authority refused to honour the request, citing the issue as a private deal. Cyberspace Ltd and Century Consultants, both were promoted by Mr Arvind Johri and Cyberspace was the new name of the erstwhile Century International Finance Ltd. According to sources, the name of the outfit was changed to take advantage of the technology boom during January 2000, following which the price of the stock hovered around Rs 1,350 - Rs 1,400 during that period. The company heavily borrowed from Lucknow-based City Cooperative Bank, which is at present under the close scrutiny of the Reserve Bank of India.