New Delhi, November 13
In connection with the recent multi-crore stock market scam, allegedly involving broker Ketan Parekh, the CBI conducted raids on 27 premises in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
Searches were conducted on the premises of senior officials of the SBI Mutual Fund, the Unit Trust of India and Parekh, who are accused of “off-market” and “insider” trading of shares of Padmini Technology Limited and Padmini Polymers Limited resulting in heavy losses to general public and financial institutions.
According to a CBI spokesperson, searches were carried out at 11 places in Kolkata, five places in Mumbai and 11 places in Delhi. The raids were conducted after CBI’s economic offences unit registered three fresh cases.
The raids, which began yesterday, were completed this morning and the CBI sleuths recovered several documents from the residence and offices of Ketan Parekh and the then Managing Director of SBI Mutual Funds Niyamatullah, the CBI claimed.
In the first FIR, the CBI has named 31 persons, including Ketan Parekh, Niyamatullah, the then Executive President of SBI Mutual Funds P.R.R. Upadhay, proprietor of Padmini Technology Limited Vivek Nagpal, Chartered Accountant Kailash Chander, for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy and duping the UTI of Rs 60.9 crore by “insider” trading.
The FIR alleged that Parekh pledged 50 lakh shares of Padmini Technology to the SBI by “off-market” trading and when the financial institutions went in for its trading in the Stock Exchange Board, the worth of the shares was found much less than their face value of Rs 20 each.
The FIR named several fake companies floated by Ketan Parekh as well as those shown as promoters of the Padmini Technology shares.
