A scam has come to light in the case of unprecedented rise in the shares of Bharat Global Developers Limited, based in Ahmedabad and listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. It is alleged that black money worth around ₹10,000 crore was laundered in this case. A potential case for the Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to carry out investigation into the conversion of black money into white.
SEBI’s preliminary report exposes the scam
In October 2024, it was announced that top industrial houses like Reliance, Tata, McCain, and UPL had placed orders worth ₹1500 crore with Bharat Global Developers. This led to an unprecedented surge in the company’s share price. Between November 2023 and November 2024, the share price shot up by 1700%.
According to SEBI’s preliminary report, operators carried out internal buying and selling by making a series of announcements and talking about a golden future, thus increasing the share price. They then sold the shares at a higher price and made a hefty profit of ₹271 crore. Market sources believe that around ₹10,000 crore of black money was transacted in this 1700% rise in the share price of this company in one year, and the operators pocketed it. After SEBI’s preliminary investigation report, the Income Tax and ED are likely to investigate and expose the entire scam.
An operator known as ‘Kaliya’ in the local stock market played a key role in the scam of this shell company. It is being rumoured that this operator has special connections with a minister in Delhi, so allegedly there will be no investigation into the entire scam. However, it has also been learned that after SEBI’s order, Kaliya has switched off his mobile and is making arrangements to flee. Earlier, cases have been registered against these operators for manipulating share prices in various SEBI cases.
Market cap of shell company reaches ₹13,000 crore
The operator and his accomplices took control of all the shares of a shell company, spread rumours about a golden future for the company, and created a company with a market cap of ₹13,000 crore in just one year. Shares worth ₹500 crore were sold to small investors at inflated prices. It was announced that the company would issue bonuses and interim dividends. However, before that, the scam was exposed, and now the operators have gone underground.
Four times company name changed
Originally registered as Perfect Divers in 1992, the company changed its name four times. The company has changed its original business of textiles to construction, infrastructure, and new energy projects. It also created a series of subsidiaries and announced extensive expansion.
On the other hand, in a planned conspiracy to launder black money, the black operator and his accomplices allotted preferential shares to them at ₹10 in March 2024 and at ₹ 121 in October 2024. In addition, 99% of the shares were allotted to the operators instead of the promoters in one go. If only a few people in the market have shares, it becomes easy to manipulate prices.
SEBI’s interim order
In an interim order on Monday, SEBI banned the trading of the company’s shares and also banned 41 operators and their accomplices and initiated further investigation. According to SEBI’s interim order, these operators have made a profit of ₹271.58 crore in the trading of this share and have pocketed it.