Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Shankar Sharma, wife picked up for interrogation

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Shankar Sharma and his wife Devina Mehra, directors of First Global Stockbroking, were on Monday morning picked by the sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate for interrogation into the alleged FERA violations.

Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra hold 14.5 per cent stake in the company which owns Tehelka.com, the news portal which stunned the nation with its
defence deal expose.

The two were taken to the Lok Nayak Marg office of the Enforcement Directorate, where they are being questioned. It is learnt that the two have not been allowed to speak with anyone, including their lawyers.

"My client has been picked up by the Enforcement Directorate personnel on Monday from his Delhi residence and they are not allowing us to enter the premises," noted lawyer Rani Jethmalani, who is the counsel for Sharma, was quoted as saying by PTI.

She said Sharma had been picked up at 0600 hours and none of the lawyers were being allowed to visit him.

However, she could not confirm whether Sharma had been placed under arrest or not. Enforcement Directorate had carried out raids at his Mumbai-based office and residence last month and seized all records including his computers.

Sharma and his wife are also facing allegations of tax default by the income tax department.

Interesting, both Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra had participated in an anti-POTO rally organised by journalists in New Delhi recently.

Meanwhile, Tehelka.com editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal said that he feared that the authorities might try to extract a confessional statement from Sharma and Mehra.

Earlier, too, Tejpal and Sharma have alleged that the government was bent upon destroying Tehelka simply because they did an investigative story and exposed the sordid goings on in the defence ministry.

First Global Stockbroking is one of the central figures in the stock market scandal and has been linked to the payment crisis on charges of hammering down stock prices.

Earlier, too, Sharma was arrested under Indian Penal Code sections that deal with non-cooperation and intimidation of government officials on duty.

Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has barred some of First Global's entities from accepting fresh business in the stock market until further notice for their alleged involvement in manipulation of Indian share prices.

Indian stock markets had plunged in March over allegations of price manipulation and other irregularities, forcing the president of the Bombay Stock Exchange to resign.

Additional inputs: PTI

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
Is First Global being persecuted, or being brought to justice?
First Global to sue govt over Tehelka trouble
Sebi upholds ban on First Global
First Global chief Shankar Sharma arrested
First Global Broking denies manipulation charges
Sucheta Dalal on First Global Stockbroking
The Capital Market Crisis
The Great Defence Scandal
Money
Business News

Tell us what you think of this report