Sebi slaps Rs 3 lakh fine on Manisha Mardia

Market regulator Sebi today slapped a Rs 300000 penalty on Manisha Mardia for allegedly indulging in fraudulent trading practices in shares of Asian Star Company Limited (ASCL).The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has alleged that Mardia indulged in circular or reversal synchronised trades with other brokers and clients in ASCL shares.After taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances of the case, Sebi imposed a "penalty of Rs 300000 ... on the noticee (Mardia) which will be commensurate with the violations committed by her."The probe carried out by Sebi found a spurt of over 18% in the scrip of ASCL during October 10, 2008 to November 20, 2008, while the the benchmark Sensex had dropped over 19% during the same period.Sebi alleged that Mardia had carried out synchronised trading in scrips of ASCL through stock brokers.According to the regulator, the intention of Mardia was to create artificial volume in the scrip of ASCL and to influence the price of the scrip.Sebi also alleged that Mardia had connections with the entities of Mehta group and significant number of synchronised trades.Last month, Sebi had slapped a fine of Rs 3000000 on Sunil Mehta, one of the entities of Mehta group, and alleged that he was main conspirator behind the synchronised trading.Sebi said repeated execution of circular trades, among others, by Mardia with Mehta group entities leaves no doubt that "the noticee (Mardia) contributed in manipulating the scrip of ASCL."In the same case, the regulator had yesterday imposed a fine of Rs 1000000 on Bharat Chandmal Jain.