Bombay High Court: Relief to former SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Butch, stay on special court order filing FIR

New Delhi| The Bombay High Court stayed the special court’s order registering an FIR against former SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and others in the stock market fraud case. In fact, former SEBI chief Butch and five others had approached the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the order registering an FIR against them for alleged stock market fraud. The High Court had said that it would hear the petitions on 4 March. The ACB was asked not to act on the special court order till then.

Earlier, a special court in Mumbai had directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR against former SEBI chairman Madhabi Puri Buch and five other officials on charges of alleged fraud and regulatory violations in the stock market.

What did the special ACB court say?
Mumbai-based special ACB court judge Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar, in an order passed on Saturday, had said there was prima facie evidence of regulatory lapses and collusion, which required an impartial investigation. The court had said that it would monitor the investigation. The case was asked to submit a status report within 30 days. The court had also said in the order that the allegations reveal a cognizable offence, for which investigation is necessary. The order said that inaction by law enforcement agencies and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) requires judicial intervention under the provisions of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure).

FIR was ordered against whom
Apart from Madhabi Buch, other officials against whom the court has ordered registration of FIR include BSE Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundararaman Ramamurthy, its then Chairman and Public Interest Director Pramod Agarwal and three whole-time members of SEBI Ashwini Bhatia, Ananth Narayan ji and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney are included.