IEX Insider Trading Case: How Traders Used Confidential CERC Info To Profit Rs 173 Crore Illegally

When Indian Energy Exchange shares nosedived nearly 30% in a single day, most investors were caught off guard. But for a select few traders, it was a windfall. They had placed perfectly timed bets, buying put options on IEX just days before the crash, and walked away with a staggering Rs 173 crore in profits. None of them had any prior trading history in IEX, raising immediate red flags.

At the heart of the issue were eight individuals named Bhoovan Singh, Amar Jit Singh Soran, Amita Soran, Anita, Narender Kumar, Virender Singh, Bindu Sharma, and Sanjeev Kumar. Among these eight, Bhoovan Singh alone made over Rs 72 crore.

The entire incident came to light when the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) unearthed the multi-crore insider trading case involving shares of the Indian Energy Exchange.

SEBI's investigation revealed that confidential information from meetings of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission specifically related to policy decisions in July on market coupling were leaked. This material non-public information was then allegedly used by the individuals to trade in IEX shares, resulting in substantial unlawful gains.

Bhoovan Singh, it turned out, had access to internal CERC documents. SEBI traced the leak to two CERC officials.  Bhoovan’s search history showed he was researching the impact of the CERC order, strategies to benefit from the announcement, and how to enable derivative trading in his account. He was also found to be googling how to profit from insider information.

One of the other traders, Sanjeev Kumar, visited the CERC headquarters just eight days before the order went public. He even sent a photo to a WhatsApp group showing he was watching a live stream of a confidential CERC board meeting.

When NSE flagged the suspicious trades, Bhoovan Singh's chats were deleted. But the backup of messages remained. All this evidence tied back to their inside trades.