Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi and his wife Maria Goretti from the stock market for 1 year. This action has been taken in the case of manipulation in the shares of Sadhna Broadcast under the “pump and dump” scheme. SEBI has also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on them. Apart from these two, 57 other people have also been banned for 1 to 5 years in this case. Pump and dump scheme is a type of stock market fraud. In this, some people together increase the price of a company’s shares in a wrong way, such as by spreading misleading news or giving false advice. When the price goes high, they sell their shares and make a profit. This causes huge losses to common investors, because the price falls later. What actions did SEBI take against the people involved in the scam? Arshad Warsi earned Rs 41.70 lakh from this fraud Arshad Warsi made a profit of Rs 41.70 lakh from this scheme, while his wife Maria Goretti took advantage of Rs 50.35 lakh. SEBI presented evidence of WhatsApp chats, in which the conversation between Manish Mishra, who runs a YouTube channel, and Arshad Warsi came to the fore. In these chats, Manish had talked about transferring Rs 25 lakh each to the bank accounts of Arshad, Maria and Iqbal. Manish was the mastermind of this scheme. On July 13, 2022, Arshad Warsi bought 1.87 lakh shares from Jatin Shah associated with this scheme. On the same day, Maria bought 2.65 lakh shares. Later, profit was made by selling them. Understand the whole matter in three points 1. SEBI issued a detailed 109-page order on May 29, 2025, in which the whole story of this scam came to the fore. SEBI’s investigation covers the period from 8 March 2022 to 30 November 2022. During this period, manipulation of shares of Sadhna Broadcast was done. 2. SEBI found that Arshad Warsi and others together increased the price of shares of Sadhna Broadcast in a wrong manner. For this, they coordinated the scheme through WhatsApp groups and posted misleading videos on YouTube channels. These included channels like Moneywise, The Advisor and Profit Yara. In these videos, Sadhna Broadcast was described as a great investment opportunity, which lured common investors. 3. SEBI’s investigation revealed that a paid marketing campaign of Rs 1 crore was also run to make these YouTube videos reach more people. False and exaggerated things were said in these videos, so that investors buy shares and prices increase. Read this news too… Clean chit to former SEBI chief in Hindenburg case: Lokpal said – no concrete evidence found against Madhabi Buch Lokpal has given a clean chit to former SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch in the Hindenburg case. Lokpal’s anti-corruption body has settled all complaints against her in the Hindenburg case. Lokpal has said that there is no concrete evidence to order an inquiry against Buch. Read full news…
