2025 (11) TMI 864

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....inst order dated August 30, 2022 passed by the WTM Whole Time Member, SEBI Securities and Exchange Board of India issuing certain directions and imposing monetary penalty of Rs. 15 Lakhs. 2. We have heard Mr. Abhishek Mishra, Authorised Representative for the appellant and Mr. Vishal Kanade, learned Advocate for the respondent. 3. Brief facts of the case are, appellant is a registered Investment Adviser situated in Indore. 4. Pursuant to receipt of multiple complaints against the appellant, SEBI issued a Show Cause Notice ('SCN' for short). After receiving appellant's reply and adjudicating the matter, the WTM, SEBI has passed the impugned order. Assailing the correctness of the order, the appellant is before this Tribunal. 5. S....

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.... submitted that the FIR has been quashed by the Hon'ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh. The learned WTM has noted appellant's reply in para No.5.12 of the impugned order. It was argued that police had given the information about the FIR. However, the point for consideration is, whether law required the appellant to bring such information to SEBI's knowledge. Regulation 13(b) of SEBI (IA) Regulations, 2013 Securities and Exchange Board of India (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013. reads thus: "The investment adviser shall forthwith inform the Board in writing, if any information or particulars previously submitted to the Board are found to be false or misleading in any material particular or if there is any material change in the ....

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....ne through a sub-agent in Indore. Shri Kanade drew our attention to paragraph No. 5.52 and pointed out that the WhatsApp chat between appellant's executive and Mr. Joy Kiran clearly indicate that the client had passed on the password and pin to appellant's executive. The relevant transcript reads as follows: "Executive of the Noticee: Fund daal kar msg kar digiye Joy Kiran: 10000/Rs. Funded in Zerodha. NMXX46; Password AnitXXXX9; Pin 62XX99." 12. Similarly, the following conversation between another client by name Mr. Bhavesh Kumar Bhatt and appellant's executive fortifies SEBI's contention. "Bhaveshkumar Bhatt: I borrowed money from my brother and when you lost my capital and didn't pick up my phone, so he wou....

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.... the said mistake. 15. The last allegation is, not redressing the complaints. Learned Authorised Representative adverting to Table No. 9 in the impugned order submitted that all complaints have been resolved. The delay, if any, in resolving is solely because SEBI has belatedly forwarded the complaints. He is right in his complaint. The Table No. 9 is extracted hereunder: Sr. No SCORES Complaint No. Name of Complainant Date of receipt of complaint Date of forwarding complaint to IA(X) Date of Reminders Date of Final ATR (Y) Excessive time above 30 days 1 SEBIEMP20/0000281/1 Subhash Chand 29 Jan 2020 27 May 2020 01 Jul 2020 23 Jul 2020 14 Aug 2020 NA 62 2 SEBIEMP20/0000674/1 Ga....