WhatsApp leak case: Insider trading charges against 11 entities nixed

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday dismissed insider trading charges against 11 entities who allegedly circulated unpublished price-sensitive information about the financial results of Axis Bank through WhatsApp messages. 

The entities are — Amish Arvind Malbari, Arvind Malbari, Amrish Suresh Vakil, Fanil Motiwalla, Kunaal Raman Khanna, Gaurav Girish Dedhia, Kotak Capital Partners, Hinglaj Enterprise, Nidhi Mehra, BharatKumar V Bagrecha, Mita Mahendra Shah and Roshan Vivian Saldanha, Sebi said in its order. 

Last year, Sebi had disposed of the adjudication proceedings against two individuals in the case pertaining to alleged circulation of unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI) about the financial results of half a dozen companies, including TCS and UltraTech Cement. 

The orders came after the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) had set aside Sebi's insider trading charges against certain individuals in the WhatsApp leak case in March 2021 and the same was upheld by the Supreme Court on September 26 last year.

The case pertains to the circulation of UPSI in various private WhatsApp groups about certain companies, including Axis Bank, ahead of their official result announcements to the stock exchanges.

Subsequently, the regulator carried out an investigation in the matter of circulation of UPSI of Axis Bank to ascertain any violation of PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) norms during June-July 2017.

During the investigation, the regulator observed that Axis Bank's results for the quarter ended June 2017 were announced by the private lender on the exchanges, but before the announcement certain figures related to the results were circulated on WhatsApp.