The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has accused Ketan Parekh, the former stock market operator infamous for the 2000-2001 securities scam, of using foreign travel as a cover for orchestrating fraudulent trades. SEBI is opposing Parekh's application to travel to multiple countries over four months, claiming he has a "history of misusing" foreign travel permissions to engage in illegal trading activities through WhatsApp groups. The market regulator alleges that Parekh has a "sinister motive" to avoid surveillance and court proceedings, and potentially "settle in a foreign country" to execute plans that could harm the Indian economy and investors.
Parekh, who was debarred from the stock market for 14 years in 2003 due to his role in the 2000-2001 scam, is currently facing criminal charges before a special SEBI court in Mumbai. He had requested the court's permission to travel to the UK, UAE, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, the European Union, and Georgia between October 4, 2025, and February 3, 2026, citing a family vacation, attendance at two weddings, and the health condition of his elder daughter who resides in the UK. His lawyers argued that the consolidated permission request was made to avoid repeated applications to the court. They further noted that various courts had granted him travel permission in the past, including the Supreme Court in 2021 for his daughter's medical treatment in the UK and the special court in 2022. He was also allowed to travel to the UK, Dubai, Singapore, EU, and the US in December 2023.
SEBI's opposition cites an ex parte interim order issued in January 2025, which again debarred Parekh, along with two others, for alleged front-running. The order stated that Parekh was able to communicate time-sensitive, non-public information from Rohit Salgaocar, based in Singapore, to front-runners within minutes, enabling them to make illegal profits. SEBI's response stated that Parekh has a history of misusing foreign travel permissions and that investigations revealed he was actively involved in orchestrating fraudulent trades through WhatsApp during those periods.
SEBI also highlighted Parekh's use of multiple SIM cards registered under aliases like "Jack," "Boss," "Bhai," and "Wellwisher" to conceal his identity and evade detection. The regulator argued that monitoring his activities and communications would be impossible if he were permitted to travel abroad.
Ketan Parekh was a prominent figure in the stock market between 1999 and 2001, known for rigging the shares of information, communication, and entertainment (ICE) companies through circular trading, the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank, and the Kolkata Stock Exchange. Mentored by Harshad Mehta, the key figure in the 1991 stock market scam, Parekh led the bull rally in 1999-2000, coinciding with the global dotcom boom and bust. The scam was exposed following a payment crisis at the Kolkata Stock Exchange, leading to a collapse of stock market indices and the bursting of the global dotcom bubble. This led to the collapse of UTI and stricter regulations by SEBI. Parekh was named in numerous cases under the SEBI Act for stock exchange violations, and a Special CBI court sentenced him to two years imprisonment in 2014.
More recently, in January 2025, SEBI barred Parekh and two others from the securities markets for their involvement in a front-running scheme that generated illegal gains of ₹65.77 crore. SEBI found that Parekh and Salgaocar devised a scheme to profit from non-public information related to a "big client" by orchestrating front-running activities. Parekh's wife's phone was also identified as one of the key tools used in the operation.
