SEBI bars promoters, 59 involved for alleged pumping and dumping in Sadhna Broadcast shares

Seven individuals, including promoters Gaurav Gupta and Rakesh Kumar Gupta, have been barred for five years
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HEMANSHI KAMANI

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has imposed penalties of around ₹20 crore on 59 individuals and barred them from the securities market for alleged manipulation and fraudulent practices in the shares of Sadhna Broadcast.

Seven individuals, including promoters Gaurav Gupta and Rakesh Kumar Gupta, have been barred for five years. 52 others, including actor Arshad Warsi and his wife Maria, have been barred from the market for a year.

Plan to misled investors

The regulator found a classic pump and dump scheme used to misled investors through videos on YouTube channels such as Moneywise, The Advisor, and ProfitYatra, recommending shares of the company–renamed as Crystal Business System in May. These channels, which were all operated by a Manish Mishra, created false claims about the company’s financial health and future prospects.

The price was systematically pushed upward through collusive trading, followed by aggressive promotional activity to draw in retail investors, and finally, a coordinated sell-off by the promoters. “The retail investors, misled by this staged market activity, were left holding the shares at distorted valuations once the manipulators that included the promoters had exited,” SEBI whole-time member Ashwani Bhatia said in the order.

From March 2022 to December 2022, the promoter shareholding declined by 15 per cent from 40.95 per cent to 25.58 per cent. During the same period, the number of public shareholders increased from a mere 885 to 72,509, up to 74.52 per cent as of March 2023 from 59.05 per cent as of March 2022. The stock price has come down to ₹2.75 on Friday from ₹33 at its peak.

Market manipulation

Bhatia said that the events uncovered “paint a disturbing picture regarding the increasing use of social media platforms, which have immense reach and influence in the digital age, as tools for market manipulation.”

He cautioned investors to follow proper due diligence, especially while investing in companies which see sudden spikes in prices without any attributable change in fundamentals.

A separate order on the company and certain individuals will be issued in due course, said SEBI.

Published on May 30, 2025