The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted a four-week stay on a special court’s directive to file an FIR against former SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch and five others in connection with alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations. The court criticized the special court’s order, calling it "mechanical" and lacking proper examination of the facts. The case pertains to the 1994 Cals Refineries stock listing fraud.

On March 3, Buch, along with SEBI’s whole-time directors—Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G, and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney—and two senior BSE officials, Pramod Agarwal and Sundararaman Ramamurthy, moved the Bombay High Court to challenge the order issued by a special court of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). This order had directed the police to register an FIR against them.

A single bench of Justice Shivkumar Dige, who stayed the order, observed that the special court's March 1 ruling was issued without properly analyzing the details or specifying the accused individuals’ roles in the alleged fraud. He remarked that the decision was made mechanically.

The special court's directive for an FIR was based on a complaint filed by journalist Sapan Shrivastava, who had requested an investigation into the alleged offenses committed by the accused. The High Court has now put the FIR order on hold and granted Shrivastava four weeks to file an affidavit in response to the petitions. Until then, no action will be taken against Buch and the other accused individuals.

Disclaimer: This image is taken from PTI.