How Some Minor Mistakes Got Ketan Parekh Caught

Securities and Exchange Board of India on Thursday imposed a liability of Rs 65.7 crore on Ketan Parekh, the infamous market trader, along with Rohit Salgaokar, and others in the extended front running case.

India's market regulator has observed that Parekh had violated security law provisions many times. The directions were given by Sebi in an interim order of 188 pages that made observations against 22 entities.

Parekh was first banned by the market regulator in 2003 for 14 years for his role in the stock market scam of 2000. However, murmur in the market suggested he operated from the shadows with the help of hawala agents who transferred cash and front entities who took positions, as mentioned by a Business Standard report.

All it took for Sebi was to follow the trail of his phone numbers registered in different names to catch Parekh this time.

The market regulator found at least 10 such mobile numbers registered in different names together at his residence in Mumbai. Besides, the same mobile numbers were carried by Parekh to wherever he went. It is noteworthy that even if a number is not registered in your name, it can be tracked and the location data can be obtained.

These mobile numbers were used by Parekh to receive non-public information on stock prices with the help of the Singapore-based trader Rohit Salgaocar. The information was then sent to his network of front entities to execute trades on Parekh's behalf, elaborated the report.

When Parekh visited the Sebi office in March 2023 to represent another entity in a case, he had submitted his Aadhaar's copy as the proof of identity which was linked with the mobile number "XXX0308243", said the report, adding that the visitor slip had the mobile number "XXX6562996". The two numbers was all it took the market regulator to uncover Parekh's network.

As part of its investigation, Sebi obtained the subscriber details of the contact numbers given by Parekh to Sebi. It was found that “XXX0308243” belonged to his wife Mamta with address at Zaver Mahal, 19/b, Marine Drive, Marine Lines, Mumbai, according to the report. Sebi then chased the location of Parekh's wife's number and matched it with the other mobile numbers which were uncovered during the search and seizure raids. Thus, location data of Parekh's phones, WhatsApp chat information of suspects and testimony of key accused in the case uncovered the full trail, said the BS report.

Besides, Sebi also conducted IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) analysis of numbers which found that many numbers were being used in the same mobile devices, it added.