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TMI Blog2023 (5) TMI 1419X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r and Mr. Kush Khandelwal, Advocates i/b R V Legal, Mr. Gagan Chhabra, Advocate, Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, Advocate with Mr. Gaurav Bhardwaj, Mr. Deepak Shukla and Mr. Alok Singh, Advocate For the Respondent : Mr. Sumit Rai, Advocate with Mr. Ravishekhar Pandey, Ms. Shefali Shankar and Ms. Rasika Ghate, Advocates i/b. MDP & Partners, Advocates Judgment: Per: Justice Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer 1. Adjudication proceedings were initiated against 19 noticees which resulted in the imposition of penalties by an order of the Adjudicating Officer ("AO" for convenience) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI" for convenience) dated June 30, 2022 against 17 noticees. Six of these noticees have filed separate appeals against the c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing to Securities Market) Regulations, 2003 ("PFUTP Regulations, 2003" for convenience). Noticees no. 9, 11 and 12 have also been charged with violation of the PFUTP Regulations. 4. The AO after considering the material evidence on record found that noticees no. 1, 2 and 3 purchased 9,91,494 shares from noticee no. 13 Kolluru Surya Prakash Venkata, who was also a Director in Wisec Global Limited and that these noticees sold 29,74,997 shares. The AO found that noticee no. 1 received the shares from Kolluru Surya Prakash Venkata, who was a Director in Wisec Global Limited and noticee no. 2 received the shares from noticee no. 1. Further, noticee no. 3 received the shares from noticee no. 16 Company in which Kolluru Surya Prakash Venkata was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... major sellers and noticees no. 9, 11 and 12 were major buyers and that the buy orders were placed within close proximity of the sell orders and, therefore, this structured trade was misleading the investors and creating artificial volume. The AO further came to the conclusion, that the sellers placing orders in small quantities was an evidence that price was being manipulated. 7. We have heard Shri Vikas Bengani, Ms. Rinku Valanju, Shri Gagan Chhabra and Shri Gaurav Agarwal, the learned counsel for the appellants and Shri Sumit Rai, the learned counsel for the respondent. 8. The contention of the learned counsels for noticees no. 9,11 and 12 are that they are buyers and they had no connection with the counterparty, director or promoters o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... we find that no arguments / submissions was made against the findings given by the AO with regard to the shares being received off- market by noticees no. 1, 2 and 3. No arguments was raised that the receipt of the shares was with consideration or that the finding of the AO that it was received without consideration is incorrect. The violation of spot delivery under Section 2(i) (a) of the SCRA was also not contested. Consequently, the finding of the AO that the shares of the Company Wisec Global Limited were received by noticees no. 1, 2 and 3 without any consideration from a director of the Company Kolluru Surya Prakash Venkata is affirmed. The violation of Section 2(i) read with Regulations 13, 16 and 18 of the SCRA is also affirmed. 12 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hin the proximity of time in the placement of orders rate makes it apparent that the trades were not genuine. The continuous trades placed between the appellants within a few minutes of each other at almost at the same rate is a structured trade falling short of synchronized trades. 16. On the analysis of the trading pattern of the noticees that is placing of buy orders for small quantity, it is evident that the price of the scrip was manipulated by the noticees and, therefore, the finding that there was an intent to manipulate the price of the scrip does not suffer from any error of law. 17. Consequently, the findings that noticees no. 1, 2 and 3 have manipulated the price of the scrip through small trades does not suffer from any error ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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