Arshad Warsi challenges Sebi order to bar 45 entities from securities market

Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi has moved the Securities Appellate Tribunal SAT challenging the Securities and Exchange Board of India's Sebi order to bar 45 entities, including him and his wife Maria Goretti, from the securities market for allegedly manipulating the share price of Sadhna Boradcast.

The matter was listed for March 17 by the tribunal.

The Bollywood actor who has acted in well-known movies like Munna Bhai MBBS, Golmaal, Dedh Ishqiya and Jolly LLB will be represented at SAT by Regstreet Law Advisors, which was founded by Sumit Agrawal, a former legal officer of Sebi.

The Sebi order came after a probe that found that entities uploaded misleading videos on YouTube channels and recommended investors to buy shares of Sharpline Broadcast Ltd and Sadhna Broadcast Ltd.

Some of the promoters of Sadhna Broadcast have been resisted from the securities market for their alleged involvement, apart from the actor couple.

The regulator has impounded illegal gains totaling Rs 54 crore, made by the entities after misleading videos were uploaded on YouTube channels, according to two separate interim orders.

In the case of Sadhna Broadcast, Sebi noted that Arshad Warsi made a profit of Rs 29.43 lakh and his wife earned a profit of Rs 37.56 lakh. Iqbal Hussain Warsi gained 9.34 lakh.

These three have been classified by the capital markets regulators as volume creators.

Maria and her knowledge about stocks is zero, so he took advice and invested in Sharda and lost all of our hard earned money, he said.

The Sebi probe was triggered after the regulator received complaints that misleading YouTube videos with false content about the two companies were uploaded to lure investors.

One of the misleading videos on the YouTube channels said Sadhna Broadcast would be taken over by Adani Group and that the margins of the company would increase after the deal.