SEBI Freezes Fugitive Businessman Mehul Choksi's Bank Accounts, Investments To Recover Rs 2.1 Crore
Mumbai:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has ordered the attachment of absconding businessman Mehul Choksi's bank accounts, mutual funds, and shares to recover Rs 2.1 crore.
The amount is related to a penalty imposed on him for violating insider trading rules in the shares of Gitanjali Gems.
Choksi, who was the Chairman and Managing Director of Gitanjali Gems, is accused of sharing unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI) with an associate, Rakesh Girdharlal Gajera.
Based on that information, Gajera sold off his entire 5.75 per cent stake in the company in December 2017, allegedly to avoid losses before details of fraudulent activities involving the company became public.
In January 2022, the SEBI fined Choksi Rs 1.5 crore and banned him from trading in the securities market for one year.
However, Choksi did not pay the fine, prompting the SEBI to issue a demand notice on May 15, 2025. When he failed to respond or make the payment within the 15-day deadline, the market regulator proceeded with the attachment of his assets.
The total dues now stand at Rs 2.1 crore, including Rs 60 lakh in interest. In its notice dated June 4, the SEBI directed all banks, depositories like CDSL and NSDL, and mutual fund houses to freeze Choksi's accounts.
While no money can be withdrawn, credits are still allowed. The market regulator has also instructed banks to seize any lockers in his name.
The market regulator explained that the action was necessary because there is a strong possibility that Choksi may try to move or hide his assets, which could delay or prevent the recovery process.
"Whereas no amount has been paid by the defaulter and there is sufficient reason to believe that the defaulter may dispose of the amounts/proceeds in the bank accounts held with your bank and realisation of the amount due under the recovery certificate would in consequence be delayed or obstructed," the market regulator stated.
Choksi, who is also the maternal uncle of Nirav Modi, has been facing legal action in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case involving over Rs 14,000 crore.
Both Choksi and Modi fled India in early 2018 when the scam came to light. Choksi had been living in Antigua since 2018 but was arrested in Belgium in April this year after Indian authorities requested his extradition.
He was reportedly in Belgium for medical treatment. Meanwhile, Nirav Modi remains in a UK jail after being arrested by the Scotland Yard in 2019.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
22 minutes ago
- Time of India
Hydroponic weeds worth Rs 3 crore seized from woman passenger at Coimbatore airport
COIMBATORE: The air intelligence unit (AIU) of the customs department seized 3.155 kg of hydroponic weed from a woman passenger who arrived at the Coimbatore International Airport from Bangkok in Thailand via Singapore on a Scoot Airlines flight on Friday night. The AIU received a tip-off about smuggling of hydroponic weed (ganja grown in a water-based and nutrient-rich solution, instead of in soil) to Coimbatore International Airport. The Scoot Airlines flight landed here around 11.16 pm, and AIU officers began checking the baggage of the passengers. A woman passenger hailing from Kerala had six packets of chips in her luggage. The officials opened the packets and found 3.155 kg of hydroponic weed valued at around Rs 3 crore. The officials arrested her. Sources said the woman told the officials that someone had placed the packets in her luggage and she was not aware of the hydroponic weed. Last month, the AIU team seized 5.25 kg of hydroponic weed worth Rs 5 crore from a passenger at the airport here. Many carriers have started smuggling contrabands from Bangkok to the Coimbatore International Airport or the Trichy International Airport via Singapore.
India Today
35 minutes ago
- India Today
4 gang members arrested in Gujarat for metro cable thefts across multiple cities
The Gandhinagar police on Saturday arrested four members of the Khedka gang, who stole cables from the metro tracks at various places, including Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, and Maharashtra, Delhi and Pune, officials said. Police recovered cables worth Rs 18 lakh from the gang, which has committed over 100 thefts across the country so arrests came as police expedited their investigation after a theft of 700 metres of metro cable was reported at Ahmedabad's old Koba metro station at 2.30 am on June 2. The police also established its links with recent similar thefts in the the investigation, the police learnt that the accused had rented a car used by them and a flat where they stayed and also kept the stolen cables, which were later cut into pieces. The police tracked down the gang members with the help of evidence and arrested them before registering a case against relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya four arrested gang members have been identified as Musharraf, Rashid Ismail, Rashid Shabbir and Irshad Malik, all belonging to Uttar Pradesh's for other gang members identified as Shahzad, Aamir, Arif, Ikhlaq, Imran, Arif, Sonu, Arshad, Bilal, Raja and Masoom is underway."Four of the thirteen people who were involved in the cable theft have been arrested. The police have recovered the cables stolen from the Gandhinagar metro line. But the cables stolen from Ahmedabad have been transported by the accused to Delhi via train," Gandhinagar SP Ravi Teja Vasamsetty cable thefts the gang has committed include 14 in Delhi, 12 in Pune and six in Panvel near Qureshi, a wanted accused from Ghaziabad, was present at the time of the cable theft from the metro line in Ahmedabad's Shahpur and took the cable to Delhi by train where he sold it. Raja receives the stolen cables and takes responsibility for the necessary expenses incurred in stealing THE KHEDKA GANG STEALS CABLESMembers of the Khedka gang visit cities which have metro services. They then rent a room to stay and hide the cable and a hire car as per their first do a recce of the metro line from where the cable is to be stolen. After that, the gang members would reach the targeted part of the metro line around 1 am in a rented car and climb up the track with the help of a big tree or a wall. They would first snap the earthing cable of the metro line with a cable cutter to avoid this period, a few of them wait on the ground to make a bundle of cables, put them in the rented car and take the cable to the rented house. After that, the plastic and rubber parts were removed and the copper wire was separated. It would then be packed and transported to Delhi by train and sold police also said that Shahbaz and Rashid have been training the rest of their gang members for cable theft for the past 10 years. Raja and Masoom operate this gang from Delhi. Notably, two of their gang members have died during thefts in the Gandhinagar Crime Branch has now solved the metro cable theft cases in places including Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Pune, Panvel, Bhopal, and Indore, while a Gujarat Police team is investigating the matter further in the questioning of the accused, the police are hopeful of getting success in solving the cases of metro cable theft across the country, a senior police officer said. IN THIS STORY#Gujarat#Delhi
India Today
35 minutes ago
- India Today
India central to key supply chains: Canada's Mark Carney on G7 invite to PM
India is the fifth-largest economy in the world, and it is central to a number of critical global supply chains, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said, arguing that the leadership of the country must be part of discussions at the upcoming G7 comments came after some of his political opponents in Canada criticised him for inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in view of a probe into allegations of Indian links to the killing of a Khalistani separatist in Minister Modi accepted Carney's invitation to attend the G7 summit during a phone conversation on Friday. Canada is hosting the G7 summit in the Alberta province from June 15 to 17 in its capacity as the current chair of the a specific question on the case of the killing of pro-Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023, Carney told reporters that it is not appropriate for him to comment as the legal process in the case is Canadian prime minister said the G7 summit will deliberate on a range of key issues including energy security, digital future, critical minerals and on partnerships in building infrastructure in the emerging and developing suggested that he extended the invitation to Modi after talking to other G7 member are certain countries that should be at the table for those discussions," he said when asked why PM Modi was invited when there have been allegations of Indian links to the Nijjar case."India is the fifth-largest economy in the world; effectively the most populous country in the world. (It is) central to a number of those supply chains; (it is) at the heart of a number of those supply chains, so it makes sense," he elaborating, Carney noted that India and Canada have agreed to continue law enforcement dialogue."Bilaterally, we have now agreed importantly to continue law enforcement dialogue. There has been some progress on issues of accountability," he NDP party slammed Carney for extending the invitation to Modi. "This decision is profoundly troubling," it India-Canada relations hit rock bottom following then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link to the killing of October last year, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case. India also expelled an equal number of Canadian Liberal Party leader Carney's victory in the parliamentary election in April triggered hopes for reset of the the last few months, the security officials of India and Canada resumed contacts and both sides were looking at the possibility of appointing new high had accused Trudeau's government of allowing pro-Khalistani elements to operate from Canadian Trudeau's exit, New Delhi said it hoped to rebuild ties with Canada based on "mutual trust and sensitivity".Tune InMust Watch
