Overview
- SEBI's 146-page final order issued on July 24, 2026 debarred former Axis Mutual Fund chief dealer Viresh Joshi from the securities market for seven years and fined him Rs 3 crore.
- The regulator penalised 20 other noticees with market bans of three to seven years and monetary penalties that bring total fines to about Rs 7.4–7.5 crore.
- SEBI ruled that roughly Rs 30.55–30.56 crore impounded under its February 28, 2023 interim order will be treated as disgorgement and sent to the Investor Protection and Education Fund with 12% annual interest.
- The order says the scheme ran from September 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022 and involved repeated Buy-Buy-Sell and Sell-Sell-Buy trading patterns, coded identities, mule accounts and a Dubai-linked execution node to mask proceeds.
- Investigators relied on market surveillance alerts, trading records, call detail records, WhatsApp/FaceTime/BOTIM logs and witness statements to reconstruct the network, and SEBI rejected noticees' challenges to that circumstantial evidence.