Nirmal Kotecha was questioned by the Mumbai police on Tuesday in a case involving forgery of a letter involving Sebi. The letter, purportedly from the corporate finance department of Sebi, was addressed to P S Saminathan, chairman of Pyramid Saimira, and was distributed to the media on December 20.
The letter was written on Sebi's letterhead and had a file number that gave the impression that it was sent out by the regulator. Among other issues, the letter asked Saminathan to explain why he had announced an open offer for 20 per cent of Pyramid Saimira stake at Rs 200 per share when the market price of the stock was Rs 60.
The letter also asked the promoter to make an open offer to acquire 20 per cent of shares held by the public at Rs 200.
The market regulator later said the letter was forged after markets reacted to the media reports and the stock price zoomed for two days.
Kotecha was was called in for questioning by the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) police station after one of the arrested persons who was earlier working for a Mumbai-based public relations firm named him as the source. Nissar Tamboli, deputy commissioner of Police (DCP), zone VIII, said, "We questioned Kotecha as his name cropped up during investigations. We would reveal the name of all the conspirators and soon file a chargesheet."
The investigating officer of the case, Raksha Maharao, however, said the police have not able to ascertain Kotecha's role in the case.
Sources familiar with the developments said Sebi, which is also carrying out a parallel investigation in the case, may also call Kotecha for questioning.
Kotecha could not be reached for comments.
