Harshad Mehta arrested

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 9. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today arrested `Big Bull' Harshad Mehta and his two brothers - Ashwin and Sudhir - in connection with a case relating to alleged misappropriation of 27 lakh shares of 90 blue chip companies.

The Mehta brothers were arrested from their residence in Mumbai and later produced before the Special CBI Judge, who remanded them to CBI custody.

The CBI spokesman, Mr. S.M. Khan, told reporters here that the three stock brokers were arrested on charges of stealing the shares and fraudulently transferring them to their friends and relatives through forged documents. Later, they even indulged in the financial transactions of the shares, he said. The case, an offshoot of the 1992 securities scam, was registered on the direction of the Special Court, Mumbai, which is holding the trial of offences relating to transactions in the Securities Act, 1992.

During investigation of the case so far, the agency came to dwell upon reasonable suspicion that the shares were fraudulently transferred in benami names and they had gone to the market with false documents.

The properties of Mr. Harshad Mehta were attached on June 8, 1992 to the custodian under the provisions of trial of offences relating to transactions in the Securities Act, 1992. The properties of Mehta brothers included 27 lakh shares of about 90 companies.

Our Mumbai Special Correspondent writes:

The Mehta brothers, who were arrested in the afternoon and detained at the CBI office here for questioning, were later in the day produced before the special court which remanded them to police custody for 14 days from today till November 23.

The special court granted custody of the three brothers to the CBI ``considering the huge amount of shares involved and enormity of transactions.''

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