The Burman family on Tuesday denied any role or involvement in the Mahadev App scam and termed an FIR filed by a social worker against members of the family “false and baseless”.
Dabur Group chairman Mohit Burman and his brother and group director Gaurav Burman were among 32 people named in an FIR registered by the Mumbai Police last week. The police have filed cases under various sections of gambling and fraud against the 32 persons in relation to the Mahadev betting app case.
The family termed the FIR as a step provoked by “vested interests” to block its proposed plans to increase stake in Religare Enterprises.
“We have not received any formal communication with regard to the FIR. However, we have seen the FIR circulated to media houses. Mohit Burman and Gaurav Burman do not even know or have ever met the accused mentioned in the FIR. Nothing could be further from the truth,” a statement issued on behalf of the family said.
The family remained shocked at these “arm-twisting moves” but it would proceed with its plans for Religare Enterprises, it added.
Last week,social worker Prakash Ghanshyam Bankar filed an FIR accusing Mohit and Gaurav Burman of being part of illegal betting, gambling and match-fixing in cricket. the Burmans were accused of being directly related to Chander Aggarwal, another individual named in the FIR, who had indirect involvement in a team participating in the cricket league.
Last month, the Burman family expressed its intention to raise its stake by 5.27% in Religare at `235 a share, triggering an open offer. The price was at a sharp discount to the then prevailing market price of `270.
Separately, in an interaction with FE on Tuesday, Mohit Burman reiterated his earlier stance of no plans to change Religare board.
He also rejected accusations of not meeting “criteria” for the open offer.
Burman accused Religare chairman Rashmi Saluja of “insider trading” as she was told of the open offer on September 20, following which she offloaded her shares in the company. However, he said that she was not aware of the open offer price.
“We are the best promoters to run the company as we would be making further investments as and when required, and will not be interfering with the day-to-day affairs of the company. All the large shareholders are backing us, and the company will be run by a professional team,” he said.
According to Burman, while their merchant bankers are in touch with Sebi regarding the open offer “we have not received any communication from any regulators on the allegations raised by Saluja”.
He reiterated there were no plans to change open offer pricing, and shareholders were well within their rights to “sell or stay invested”.