SEBI bans 6 entities; to impound Rs 28 crore over alleged futures and options manipulation

Sebi on Wednesday barred stock broker Prrsaar Sampada its related entity Chaubara Eats and four others from the securities market and ordered the impounding of alleged wrongful gains totalling Rs 2812 crore in a case involving alleged crosssegment price manipulation using stock futures and optionsIn an exparte interim order Sebi said the alleged wrongful gains comprised Rs 2206 crore attributed to Prrsaar Sampada and its directors and Rs 606 crore to Chaubara Eats and its directorsThe regulator directed the six entities Prrsaar Sampada Ved Prakash Gupta Priti Gupta Chaubara Eats Saroj Gupta and Gaurav Tomar to credit the respective amounts to fixed deposit accounts with a lien marked in favour of SebiThe market regulator also restrained the six noticees from accessing the securities markets In the case of Prrsaar Sampada the direction applies only to its proprietary trading accountThe regulator said the findings in the interim order were prima facie and that a detailed investigation was required into the alleged violations by themSebis examination had prima facie found that the entities were allegedly making abnormally high profits in the stock options segment and losses in the stock futures segment by doing manipulative actsThe crosssegment price manipulation using stock options and stock futures while also engaging in possible deceptive orders and coordinatedsynchronised trading is a novel manipulative fraudulent and unfair trade practice employed by the suspects to deceive other market participants and profit from price fluctuation artificially induced by them in the market Sebi Whole Time Member Kamlesh Chandra Varshney said in his 127page orderAccording to Sebi the entities primarily traded in relatively smaller stocks among the bottom 100 by market capitalisation of the around 211 stocks eligible for equity derivatives trading as such stocks could be influenced with relatively lower capitalThe regulator said the entities took positions in stock futures and options in a manner that enabled them to benefit from movements in option prices after influencing futures pricesThe examination covered activity from October 2025 to June 2026 with the regulator analysing 23 scripdays involving Prrsaar and ChaubaraThe order said the latest analysed instance was from June 2026 while subsequent instances were still under examinationSebi said Prrsaar discontinued the alleged manipulative activity in its own account after receiving letters from the NSE but subsequently continued the alleged activity through its related entity ChaubaraDespite issuance of a letter by NSE Prrsaar continued to indulge in prima facie unfair trade practice through related entity Chaubara as recent as August 2026 the order saidThe regulator also found evidence of possible coordinated or synchronised trades between Prrsaar and ChaubaraIt added that the probable wrongful gains from such coordinated or synchronised trades had not been computed at this stage and would be calculated if wrongdoing was establishedSebi said Prrsaar is registered with it as a stock broker depository participant and research analyst and noted that the entity and its directors were closely associated with the securities marketThe entities alleged conduct and the manner in which they attempted to evade surveillance systems warranted immediate preventive measures the regulator addedThe manner in which the entities tried to evade the surveillance systems and their overall conduct by carrying out trades across the stock futures and stock options segments contracts and entities necessitate emergent preventive actions to protect the integrity of the securities market Varshney saidAfter the impounding amount is credited the restrictions on the bank accounts demat accounts and other assets will cease to apply The marketaccess restriction will also be modified to allow trading in the cash segment while continuing to prohibit trading in equity derivatives including futures and optionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever