Arshad Warsi clarified that please don’t believe everything you read in the news. Information about Maria and Mary’s stock is zero. We took advice from some people and invested in Saradha and like many others, lost all our hard earned money.
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The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned 45 individuals and companies from the stock market, including Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi and his wife Maria Goretti. They are accused of manipulating the share prices of two companies – Sharpline Broadcast Limited and Sadhna Broadcast Limited – by posting misleading videos on YouTube. After investigating these allegations, SEBI decided to ban 45 people and companies including Warsi from the stock market.
In its probe into allegations of manipulation of shares of Sadhna Broadcast Ltd and Sharpline Broadcast Ltd, SEBI has found that some YouTube channels had manipulated the shares of both the companies by releasing misleading videos about the company’s position. In these videos, investors were advised to buy shares of Sadhna and Sharpline Broadcast Limited for huge profits. Warsi and his family members were also accused of being involved in this manipulation.
Arshad Warsi issued a statement on Twitter after the news of SEBI’s action surfaced. He wrote in the tweet, “Please don’t believe everything you read in the news. Information about Maria and Mary’s stock is zero. We took advice from some people and invested in Saradha and like many others, lost all our hard earned money.” However, in this statement, Arshad did not say anything on the allegations of manipulation of share prices and SEBI banning him from the stock market.
Investigation by SEBI revealed that some promoters, key management personal and non-promoter shareholders of Sadhna Broadcast Limited sold a substantial part of their holding at inflated share price and made huge profits. He had more than 1% shareholding in the company. Among the gainers were Arshad Warsi and his family. Arshad Warsi made a profit of Rs 29.43 lakh, his wife Maria Goretti Rs 37.56 lakh and Iqbal Hussain Warsi Rs 9.34 lakh.
SEBI had started investigation after receiving complaints of rigging in the share price of both the companies. It alleged that misleading videos about the two companies were uploaded on some YouTube channels to lure investors. SEBI found in the investigation that between April and July 2022, there was a sudden increase in the price and volume of the shares of both the companies. In July 2022, false and misleading videos regarding Sadhna Broadcast were uploaded on two YouTube channels, Advisor and Moneywise. Whereas for Sharpline Broadcast Limited, videos were uploaded in May 2022 on two channels Midcap Call and Profit Yatra.
According to the allegations, where the share price of Sadhna Broadcast was Rs.5.70 on May 20, 2022, after these misleading videos, the share price increased to Rs.33.20 on August 12, 2022, but came back to Rs.5.50 on February 15. Similarly, the share of Sharpline Broadcast was Rs 7.35 on March 25, 2022, but after the misleading video, the price increased to Rs 53.30 on June 13, 2022 and then came back to Rs 6.80 on March 2, 2023.
Due to these videos, the number of small shareholders in Sadhna Broadcast increased from 2,167 to 55,343. These people bought shares at inflated prices. At the same time, due to the video, the number of small shareholders of Sharpline Broadcast increased from 517 to 20,009. In one video, it was even claimed that Sadhna Broadcast Limited has been bought by the Adami Group. These channels have now been closed.
The special thing is that the director of both the companies is the same. A person named Sanjeev Kumar Jha is the director of both the companies. Apart from this, the statutory auditors of both the companies are also the same. The secretarial auditor of both the companies is also the same firm V Kumar & Associates. The Registrar and Transfer Agent of both the companies is also Skyline Financial.