Mehul Choksi. File | Photo Credit: Annie
Markets Regulator SEBI has ordered attachment of attachment of bank accounts and shares and shares and mutual fund holdings, which is to recover ₹ 2. 2.1 crore in total with a total of ₹ 2.1 crore with a total of ₹ 2.1 crore in terms of violation of insider trading rules in shares of Gitanjali gems.
The latest step warned the bank accounts along with the property after a demand notice issued to Mr. Choksi on 15 May, if he failed to pay within 15 days.
Mr. Choksi failed to pay the fine in the shares of Gitanjali James Limited after failing to pay the fine imposed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in January 2022.
Mr. Choksi, who was the Chairman and Managing Director, was part of the promoter group of Geetanjali Ratans, Nirav is the mother’s uncle of Modi. Both are facing allegations of cheating the Punjab National Bank (PNB) owned by the state over ₹ 14,000 crore. After the PNB scam came to light in the beginning of 2018, both Mr. Choksi and Shri Modi fled to India.
In April, Mr. Choksi was arrested in Belgium after an extradition request by Indian investigative agencies. He was located in Belgium last year when he went there to receive medical treatment. He was living in Antigua since 2018 after leaving India.
Mr. Modi was arrested by the Scotland Yard Police in March 2019 and is currently in jail in that country.
In an attachment notice on 4 June, SEBI said that the pending arrears of ₹ 2.1 crore include an initial fine of ₹ 1.5 crore and an interest of ₹ 60 lakh.
To recover the arrears, SEBI asked all banks, deposits – CDSL and NSDL – and Mutual Fund not to allow any debit to Mr. Choksi’s accounts. However, credit is allowed. In addition, SEBI has instructed banks to attach all accounts that include lockers, which are conducted by defaulters.
Starting the recovery proceedings, SEBI said that there is enough reason to assume that Mr. Choksi can dispose of zodiac signs in bank accounts, demeat accounts organized with deposits, mutual funds will be a feeling, delay or interrupted, delay or interrupted under the amount, results, results, delays, or interrupted “.
In his order passed in January 2022, the regulator imposed a fine of ₹ 1.5 crore on Mr. Choksi and stopped him from the securities market for a year.
Sebi found that Mr. Choksi informed a Rakesh Girdharanlal Gajra’s unpublished value sensitive information, who sold his entire stake of 5.75% in Gitanjali gems in December 2017, which could motivate the public to cheat the public.
It was noted that fraud was issued by institutions related to Gitanjali Group including GGL. “Notice number 1 [Choksi] It was found that UPSI was communicated [unpublished price sensitive information] Notice no. 2 [Gajera] Without any underlying legal obligation or any valid purpose, “SEBI said in his final order.
Through such activities, both individuals violated the provisions of the pits (prohibition of insider trading) rules. In May 2023, SEBI sent a notice to Mr. Choksi, in which he was directed to pay ₹ 5.35 crore in a case related to fraud trade in shares of Gitanjali gems.
Published – June 06, 2025 04:46 pm IST