State attaches accounts of brokerage firm for defaulting on depositors’ money

Mumbai brokerage firm Anugrah Stock and Broking Private Limited's 19 properties and 115 bank accounts attached for alleged cheating of ₹450 crore.

Mumbai: The State Home Department has attached 19 properties and 115 bank accounts, including demat accounts, of Mumbai-based brokerage firm Anugrah Stock and Broking Private Limited (ASBPL). The action follows the firm’s failure to repay depositors’ money after maturity, amounting to an alleged cheating of at least 400 investors totaling ₹450 crore.

HT Image

The state invoked sections 3 and 4 of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 1999, for this attachment. The firm has faced expulsion from major stock exchanges, including the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), National Stock Exchange (NSE), and Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India Ltd (MSEI) since November 2020. In March, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cancelled firm’s registration certificate due to various violations, including engaging in unregistered portfolio management services, failing to maintain proper books of accounts and records, and misutilisation of clients’ funds and securities.

The attached immovable properties, including office spaces and residential flats, are registered in the names of Paresh Kariya, Arvind Kariya, Sadhana Kariya, and Anugraha Stock Broking Firm. The State Home Department aims to determine the valuation of these properties for auction, seeking to recover the funds owed to investors. “As the home department we follow the report of the collector. A deputy collector level officer has also been assigned who will determine the valuation of the properties attached and will auction them following a clearance from the court,” said a senior home official, wishing to remain anonymous.

The firm claimed of suffering a loss of around ₹600 crore during the market crash in 2020.