Sebi Orders Rashmi Saluja To Disgorge ₹2 Crore For Alleged Insider Trading In Religare Shares

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has imposed a penalty of Rs 40 lakh on former Religare Enterprises (REL) Executive Chairperson Rashmi Saluja for alleged insider trading.

The markets regulator has also asked her to disgorge Rs 2 crore, which is equivalent to the amount of wrongful gains allegedly made by Saluja.

The case pertains to trades executed ahead of the Burman Group’s September 25, 2023 announcement of an open offer to REL’s public shareholders.

According to Sebi, Saluja was aware of this decision and, therefore, sold shares days before the public announcement.

Saluja allegedly used unpublished price-sensitive information related to the impending open offer to gain an advantage.

While the announcement of the open offer was made on September 25, 2023, Saluja sold REL shares on September 21 and 22.

The Burman Group claimed that Saluja was informed about the open offer on September 20.

However, the former executive chairperson of the company has maintained that she came to know about the open offer only on September 25.

The markets regulator started a probe after receiving an email from the Burman Group in November 2023 seeking an examination of Saluja’s trades.

During its investigation, Sebi found that Saluja did not display “any element of surprise” in her chats with Burman Group representative Arjun Lamba following the public announcement.

“This observation further strengthens the weightage on the preponderance of probability about the noticee (Saluja) being already aware of the Burman Group’s intention to announce their open offer to the shareholders of the REL,” Sebi said in its order.

The regulator said that the amounts of Rs 2 crore and Rs 40 lakh will be remitted to the Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF) within 45 days of the order.