CBI will soon initiate an inquiry into the role of three former custodians of property of big bull Harshad Mehta and his two brothers following detection of sale of about Rs 27 lakh attached shares by them. Mehta and his two brothers -- Ashwin and Sudhir – were arrested by the bank securities and fraud cell on Friday last on charges of illegal sale of 27 lakh shares worth crores of rupees to benami firms.
Agency sources said that so far five custodians have been appointed by the government for the property of Mehta's but it was only the fourth custodian B Bhattacharya who managed to detect the alleged illegal transaction of shares by the big bull and his two brothers. The CBI sources said the role of earlier three custodians, appointed by the government before Bhattacharya, would be probed as to why they failed to take the physical possession of such a huge quantity of shares of 90 companies, mainly blue chip firms.
The government had decided to appoint custodian for the property of Mehta's under transaction of securities act of 1992. Earlier, the custodian was of the rank of additional secretary but now is equivalent to a joint secretary of the government.
D K Tyagi is the present custodian of the property of Mehta's.
Bureau Report