The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has banned Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi, his wife Maria Goretti, and 57 others from participating in the securities markets for up to five years. The action is part of a major crackdown on a “pump-and-dump” scheme involving the shares of Sadhna Broadcast Ltd, now known as Crystal Business System Ltd.
According to Sebi’s final order issued on Thursday, Warsi and his wife were specifically barred for one year and fined ₹5 lakh each. The regulator also ordered them to return illegal gains of ₹41.7 lakh and ₹50.35 lakh respectively, with interest.
The Scheme Unfolded
The case revolves around misleading promotional videos published on YouTube channels like Moneywise, The Advisor, and Profit Yatra—all allegedly operated by Manish Mishra. These videos falsely promoted Sadhna Broadcast as a strong investment opportunity, misleading retail investors and artificially inflating the stock’s value.
Sebi’s investigation revealed a coordinated two-phase scheme:
- Phase One – Price Inflation:
Promoter-linked entities and associates executed trades among themselves to steadily push up the share price of Sadhna Broadcast, creating a false impression of investor interest. Despite small volumes, the trades had a significant price impact due to the stock’s low liquidity. - Phase Two – Misleading Promotions and Dumping:
After inflating the stock price, promotional content was disseminated to lure retail investors. Once enough public interest was generated, the involved entities sold off their holdings at inflated prices—classic pump-and-dump behavior.
Key Players and Penalties
The masterminds behind the operation were identified as Gaurav Gupta, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, and Manish Mishra, with Subhash Aggarwal acting as a link between Mishra and Sadhna’s promoters. Other notable individuals, such as Peeyush Agarwal (a dealer at Choice) and Lokesh Shah (owner of the Delhi franchise of the stockbroker), played facilitative roles by providing key trading accounts.
Additional participants like Jatin Shah were involved in implementing and supporting the scheme.
Sebi imposed fines ranging from ₹5 lakh to ₹5 crore on 57 entities, and directed all 59 accused to jointly repay illegal gains totaling ₹58.01 crore, along with 12% annual interest from the end of the manipulation period until repayment.
Legal and Regulatory Outcome
The violations fall under Sebi’s Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (PFUTP) regulations. The regulator noted that while some individuals directly traded, others acted as information carriers or assisted in placing manipulative trades.
One promoter entity, Varun Media Pvt Ltd, was spared financial penalty due to ongoing insolvency proceedings, but Sebi maintained that the disgorgement directive applies.
The crackdown follows complaints received by Sebi between July and September 2022, which triggered an investigation covering the period from March 8 to November 30, 2022. An interim order had already been passed in March 2023 against 31 involved entities.
