New Delhi: Coming down heavily in investor refund case involving a little over Rs 99 lakh, regulator Sebi has ordered freezing of bank and demat accounts of Bharatiya Real Estate Development and its directors. The order comes after the company and its directors failed to comply with Sebi’s direction of making refund to investors. The firm had raised Rs 99.06 lakh by issuing ‘Redeemable Preference Shares’ to investors without complying with the public issue norms under the Companies Act.
Following this, in an attachment order dated January 19, Sebi ordered freezing of bank accounts of Bharatiya Real Estate Development and its five directors — Soumen Majumder, Pankaj Upadhyay, Sekh Abdul Ajim, Subhas Koley and Tarunkumar Das. Similarly, Sebi has ordered depositories – NSDL and CDSL – to attach all demat accounts of the defaulters.
The markets watchdog told banks and depositories that there was “sufficient reason” to believe that the defaulter may dispose of the amount or securities and “realisation of amount due under the certificate would in consequence be delayed or obstructed”. In January 2016, Sebi had directed Bharatiya Real Estate Development and its directors to refund the money it had illegally raised by issuing redeemable preference shares. They had been directed to refund the money raised through RPS along with an interest of 15 per cent per annum.
PTI