Sebi orders impounding of Rs 10 lakh in insider trading case of Jagran Prakashan's secretary

Capital markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has ordered to impound the unlawful gains worth over Rs 10.41 lakh from Jagran Prakashan's Company Secretary Amit Jaiswal and his wife after finding them guilty in an insider trading case.

The SEBI found that Amit Jaiswal and his wife, Mansi, had traded in the shares of the company during August-October of 2009 while possessing price-sensitive information and allegedly made unlawful gains in the process.

They had traded in the shares of the company during the unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI) period (ie pertaining to the declaration of interim dividend and announcement of financial results for the quarter ended September 2009).

According to SEBI, Kanchan Properties, part of promoter and promoter group of Jagran, had decided to sell shares of the company in the open market to raise about Rs 40-42 crore.

Jaiswal was allegedly aware of the promoter group entity's decision to sell such substantial quantity of the scrip that could impact the company's share price.

"... noticees had utilised the information pertaining to the sell decision of Kanchan Properties and made gains in the process," and violated prohibition of insider trading regulations, SEBI said in an interim order.

Accordingly, the watchdog has ordered "to impound the alleged unlawful gains of a sum of Rs 10.41 lakh (including interest)... from Amit Jaiswal and Mansi".