Mumbai News: 72-Yr-Old Accuses Brokerage Firm Of Misleading Him For 4 Yrs, Causing ₹35cr Loss

Mumbai: The Vanrai police have booked Globe Capital Market Pvt Ltd, a leading brokerage firm, after a 72-year-old businessman alleged that he was duped of nearly Rs35 crore worth of shares in a stock trading fraud spanning four years.

According to the FIR, the complainant, Bharat Harkchand Shah, is a resident of Matunga West and runs a guest house for cancer patients. Shah said that he and his wife Bharti had inherited a large volume of shares after his father's death in 1984. However, due to lack of stock market knowledge, the couple never engaged in trading.

After a friend's advice, they opened demat and trading accounts with Globe Capital Market In 2020 and transferred all shares into them. Shah claimed that the company’s representatives, Akshay Bariya and Karan Siroya, convinced them to allow trading using the shares as collateral without investing additional money. He further said that the duo regularly called him to give trading instructions and that he even shared OTPs, giving them system access based on trust.

Between March 2020 and June 2024, the couple believed the portfolio was generating profit as they received statements showing returns. However, in July 2024, Globe Capital’s risk management department informed Shah that they owe Rs35 crore to the firm and that if the dues aren't cleared the pledged shares will be liquidated. The senior citizen panicked and sold shares worth Rs35 crore in the stock market to clear the alleged debit, after which he transferred his remaining shares to another depository, said the FIR.

Shah said that he finally discovered the “fraud” after matching the email statements, which showed profit, and the actual account data. He claimed that he also learned that the National Stock Exchange had also issued show-cause notices concerning the trading activity, but the company never informed him about it.

Shah has accused Globe Capital Market of repeated high-value buy and sell transactions with the same counter-party on the same day, creating losses in futures and options trading and carrying out trades without his knowledge. He added that the firm fabricated annual statements to “mislead him and conceal massive losses”.

Globe Capital Market, Bariya and Siroya have been booked for cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and falsification of accounts. Probe is also underway to determine if more victims are involved.

IN BRIEF

Complainant Bharat Harkchand Shah runs a guest house for cancer patients

He alleges that Globe Capital Market continued to mislead him from March 2020 to June 2024

He claims the firm carried out transactions without his knowledge and even manipulated a/c statements

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