March 3, 2025 – Madhabi Puri Buch, former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson, and five others have filed a plea in Bombay High Court to quash an order by a Mumbai Special Court directing the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Mumbai to register a First Information Report (FIR) against them in a case related to alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations.

The matter was mentioned before Justice SG Dige and is likely to be heard tomorrow, March 4. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the SEBI officials while senior Advocate Amit Desai represented the two Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) officials involved in the case.

The Court further issued oral directives instructing all parties involved to refrain from taking any action in the matter until the hearing takes place.

The market regulator has issued a statement saying, "SEBI would be initiating appropriate legal steps to challenge this order and remains committed to ensuring due regulatory compliance in all matters."

Meanwhile, BSE also said it is initiating necessary and appropriate legal steps in this regard.

A FIR has been lodged against Buch, three current whole-time directors of SEBI, Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, and two officials from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) - Pramod Agarwal and Sundararaman Ramamurthy.

The ACB had ordered the FIR against the SEBI officials following an order by Special Judge Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar on a petition filed by Thane-based journalist Sapan Shrivastava. Shrivastava had sought an investigation into the alleged irregularities surrounding the listing of a company on the BSE. He had alleged that this was facilitated by top officials from the SEBI without adhering to the SEBI Act, 1992 and related regulations such as the SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018 and the SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015.

In the order, Justice Bangar said that there is prima facie evidence of regulatory lapses and collusion and that a fair probe is needed. The Court's order also noted that the allegations point to a cognizable offense. Judicial intervention is necessary due to the alleged inaction of law enforcement agencies and SEBI, as per the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), said the order.

With Media Inputs