Sebi Bans Two in Infosys Insider Trading Case, Impounds Rs 2.6 Cr

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) Markets regulator Sebi on Friday barred two individuals from the securities market for one year and impounded illegal gains of over Rs 2.60 crore made by them from indulging in insider trading in the scrip of Infosys.

Those restrained by Sebi are, Keyur Maniar, who was the alleged insider trader, and Ramit Chaudhri, a former employee of Infosys, according to an order passed by capital markets regulator Sebi.

Apart from securities market ban, the regulator also slapped a fine of Rs 30 lakh each on Keyur Maniar and Chaudhri and directed them to pay the fine within 45 days.

Further, Sebi directed Maniar to disgorge the amount of illegal gains of Rs 2.60 crore along with 12 per cent interest per annum from July 17, 2020, within 45 days from the date of this order.

Sebi said the evidence shows that Ramit was an insider with access to UPSI relating to the Vanguard deal while Keyur had a long-standing close personal and professional relationship with Chaudhri..

Both of them were aware of the Vanguard deal from the vantage point of order in the matter of insider trading activities of certain entities in the scrip of Infosys and their respective organisations, the order said.

"I conclude that noticee no 1 (Keyur Maniar) was a connected person under PITregulations, that noticee no 2 (Chaudhri) communicated the UPSI to noticee no 1,and hence noticee no 1 was an insider trading in listed securities when inpossession of UPSI," Sebi's whole time member Ananth Narayan G said in a 93-page final order.

Accordingly, Ramit Chaudhri and Keyur Maniar flouted the Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) rules.

The order came after Sebi started looking into the case after its surveillance system detected suspicious trades by the two individuals. An interim order was passed against them in September 2021 and later a confirmatory order was issued in December 2021..

Both rulings were challenged by the entities before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). Subsequently, the regulator probed the matter again and on Friday passed the final order.