The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has granted relief to Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi, wife Maria Goretti and brother Iqbal Warsi, who were barred from the stock markets for their alleged role in manipulating the share prices of Sadhna Broadcast.
On Monday, the tribunal said that there is no evidence to prove that the trio were involved in a scheme to push up the stock price and then induce unsuspecting investors.
“… there is no iota of evidence against the appellants to show that they were engaged in a coordinated scheme to induce unsuspecting investors to acquire securities in the scrip in question,” stated the SAT order.
“There is no evidence to show that the trades made by the appellants led to the increase in the price of the scrip. There is no evidence to show that the sale of the shares by the appellants was made to gullible unsuspecting investors. There is no evidence to show that the appellants were involved in the making, distribution, promotion and uploading of the videos on YouTube channels,” added the SAT order.
“… the direction issued by the WTM (whole time member) against the appellants in appeal… is also harsh and unwarranted and cannot be sustained,’ it noted.
On March 2, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) barred 45 entities, including Warsi and Goretti, from the securities market in cases related to alleged manipulation in the share prices of Sadhna Broadcast and Sharpline Broadcast through misleading videos on YouTube.
In addition to the market ban, the regulator had directed impounding illegal gains totaling Rs 54 crore made by the entities.
Setting aside the Sebi order, the tribunal said that the trio will be restrained from trading only in the stock of Sadhna Broadcast till the regulatory investigation is on and only 50 per cent of the allegedly unlawful gains need to be deposited in an escrow account.
The appellate has also directed Sebi to complete the investigation in six months.
The Bollywood actor, who has acted in well-known movies like Munna Bhai MBBS, Golmaal, Dedh Ishqiya and Jolly LLB, was represented at SAT by Regstreet Law Advisors.
