Even as the Bombay Court dismissed businessman Raj Kundra's bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody in a porn racket case, markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday slapped a monetary penalty on Kundra and actor Shilpa Shetty.
SEBI slapped a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on Shilpa Shetty, her husband Raj Kundra (Ripu Sudan Kundra) and his company Viaan Industries Ltd. for disclosure lapses and consequent violation of insider trading norms. The fine has to be paid jointly and severally.
The order follows a probe conducted between September 2013- December 2015 to ascertain violation of Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) norms by the entities.
In October 2015, Viaan Industries made a preferential allotment of 5 lakh equity shares to four persons and 1,28,800 lakh shares each, amounting to Rs 2.57 crore each, were allotted to Ripu and Shilpa in the allotment. In this regard, they were required to make timely requisite disclosure to the company in terms of PIT norms since the transactions exceeded Rs 10 lakh in value.
"It is on record that the relevant disclosures under the PIT Regulations were made by the Noticees with a delay of more than three years," Sebi noted. "Therefore, considering these facts and circumstances, I hold that this case deserves imposition of monetary penalty upon the Noticees," said adjudicating officer Suresh B Menon in an order. Noticees refer to Viaan Industries, Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Ripu Sudan Kundra.
Shilpa and Raj Kundra are the promoters of the firm. Viaan Industries was formerly known as Hindustan Safety Glass Industries Ltd.
The fine comes amid outrage against Kundra regarding his alleged involvement in a porn film production racket. Kundra was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch on July 19 in a case of creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps.
He has been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 34 (common intention), 292 and 293 (related to obscene and indecent advertisements and displays) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides relevant sections of the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.