Madhabi Puri Buch, others move Bombay High Court to quash FIR in listing fraud case

Former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and two others have approached the Bombay High Court to quash an order passed by a Mumbai court on Saturday directing the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register a first information report (FIR) against them in a listing fraud case..The matter was mentioned before Justice SG Dige and will be heard tomorrow. Meanwhile, the judge directed ACB not to act on the special court order till tomorrow. .Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the SEBI officials implicated in the case..Senior Advocate Amit Desai represented the two Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) officials involved..The case pertains to allegations of financial fraud and regulatory violations concerning the listing of a company on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1994.Besides Buch, special judge Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar ordered a first information report (FIR) against three current whole-time directors of SEBI - Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney - and two officials from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) - Pramod Agarwal and Sundararaman Ramamurthy.A status report on the investigation is expected to be submitted within the next 30 days.The order was passed on an application filed by Sapan Shrivastava, a reporter from Dombivali, who sought an investigation into the alleged irregularities surrounding the listing of a company on the BSE, facilitated by top officials from the SEBI. The complainant claimed that the listing took place without adhering to the SEBI Act, 1992 and related regulations such as the SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018 and the SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015.Despite multiple complaints to both SEBI and the police, the complainant alleged that no action had been taken..The allegations raised in the complaint include accusations that SEBI officials, including Buch and several whole-time members, failed to exercise their regulatory duties, allowing the company to list despite not meeting necessary compliance norms.The complainant also claimed that the accused engaged in market manipulation, insider trading and artificial inflation of share prices, defrauding investors and violating the Prevention of Corruption Act.The Court stated that the allegations 'prima facie' disclosed a cognizable offence and required further investigation considering the inaction by law enforcement agencies and SEBI."The inaction by law enforcement and SEBI necessitates judicial intervention under Section 156(3) CrPC," Judge Bangar said.