Mumbai Special Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Corruption Probe Against SEBI Chair, Former Chief, NSE & BSE Heads

A special court in Mumbai recently dismissed an application filed by journalist Sapan Shrivastava, who sought investigation against Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the Chairman of Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and its former chief Madhabi Puri Buch along with four lifetime members of SEBI, the Managing Directors of both National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) under charges of corruption.

Shrivastva alleged that the proposed accused, who are public servants allowed the illegal listing of 'Infosys Ltd.' on BSE (1993) and NSE (1995) and allegedly did not take any action against the wrongs of the company by accepting Rs 25 lakhs bribe from Infosys for not taking any action against the company for its fraudulent listing on the two leading stock exchanges of the country.

Special Judge Abhijeet Nandgaonkar in his February 3 order, said that Shrivastava is a 'habitual' litigant who keeps filing 'frivolous' complaints before various courts to satisfy his 'oblique motives.' For this finding, the judge relied on at least 11 orders passed by the Bombay High Court's then Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, who had taken note of the 'frivolous' nature of litigations initiated by Shrivastava in as much as 30 Public Interest Litigations.

Judge Nandgaonkar further noted the fact that CJ Nandrajog had even imposed a cost of Rs 5 lakh on Shrivastava by an order passed on September 5, 2019, with a clear directive to the Registry 'not to entertain' any of his petitions in future, till he pays the costs.

"Thus, it is crystal clear that, the complainant/applicant is in habit of hunting the forum to any how got his desired oblique motive to be satisfied by abusing the process of law. No compliance has yet been reported of the order to pay costs of Rs 5 lakhs. Therefore, it appears that the complainant who is in habit of filing such type of frivolous petition even though dismissed repeatedly by the Bombay High Court. Despite being saddled with costs by the High Court, the complainant has not taken any lesson and continues to approach one court after another by filing such frivolous petitions," Judge Nandgaonkar said in the order.

In his application, Shrivastava sought preliminary enquiry and then registration of an FIR under charges of Prevention of Corruption Act against Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Madhabi Puri Buch, Ashwani Bhatia (Life Member, SEBI), Ananth Narayan G (Life Member, SEBI), Kamlesh Chandra Varshney (Life Member, SEBI), Amarjeet Singh (Life Member, SEBI), Sanjay Sood (Registrar Of Companies) , Subhasis Chaudhari (Chairman and Public Interest Director, BSE), Sundararaman Ramamurthy (MD, BSE) and Ashish Kumar Chauhan (MD, NSE).

Shrivastava contended that these public servants have been involved in corrupt and unfairful manner in their work culture by allowing the companies to register themselves as shareholders company or applying for IPO's to collect the money from the general public without getting sanction from the Constitutional Authorities such as SEBI, BSE and NSE.

Judge Nandgaonkar noted that despite Shrivastava's claims of filing complaints with the Police and also the ACB, he did not personally appear before the said authorities within three days to lodge a proper complaint.

"But instead of it applicant/complainant is putting the gun on the shoulder of the Court by misusing the judicial process. It required to be restrained for ever. Therefore, the cognisance of such frivolous complaint by taking misuse of e-filing procedure needs to be restricted by having necessary directions to be issued by the concerned authorities or by some standard operating procedure at each and every point, the complainant has tried to secure his oblique motive by making such frivolous complaints. Therefore, the complaint tendered in this Court also needs to be rejected without taking any cognisance," the judge opined.

Notably, a special court of Mumbai had on March 2, ordered the Maharashtra Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register FIR against Madhabi Puri Buch, the former chief of SEBI, three of its "whole time members" and the top brass of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), wherein a similar complaint was made by Shrivastava but with respect to some other company.

The special judge SE Bangar had then observed, "There is prima facie evidence of regulatory lapses and collusion, requiring a fair and impartial probe. The inaction by law enforcement and SEBI necessitates judicial intervention under section 156(3) CrPC."

However, the said proceedings were stayed by Bombay High Court's Justice Shivkumar Dighe, who opined that the special judge passed the order mechanically without going into details and without giving opportunity to the respondents to file their say.

Appearance:

Sapan Shrivastava appeared as a Party-in-Person.

Advocates Aditya Mehta and Rishab Botadra represented the BSE Ltd.

Advocates Prasanna Bhangale, Niranjan Pachupate and Samruddhi Bendbhar instructed by Parinam Law Associates represented the NSE Ltd.

Case Title: Sapan Shrivastava vs Tuhin Kanta Pandey (ACB Misscellenous Application 687 of 2025)

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