No matter how clever the criminal is, he always leaves some clues. This clue helps the police to reach him. We are talking about share scammer Ketan Parekh. The story of SEBI reaching him is more interesting than the story of police reaching a thief. Parekh was very clever in carrying out the share scam. But, he could not escape from the grip of SEBI. SEBI has exposed the front-running share scam which was masterminded by Ketan Parekh.
SEBI gave interim order on 2 January
SEBI whole-time director Kamlesh Varshney passed an interim order in the scam on January 2. The things included in this order give the feel of a detective novel. SEBI has told how the noose was tightened on Parekh and how the market regulator planned to reach him. How evidence was collected linking several mobile numbers to Ketan Parekh which he had used to carry out the front running scam.
Mobile handsets were found in raids conducted at several locations.
SEBI had found many mobile phones in the search and seizure operation related to front-running scams. These mobile numbers were checked on the basis of the SIM installed in them. It was found that there were many numbers in these mobiles which were saved under fake names like Jack, John, Bhai and Whistleblower. SEBI was faced with the challenge of establishing the connection between these numbers and Ketan Parekh. These phone numbers were first tracked through the IMEI numbers of the phones.
Some handsets were used for different SIM numbers
Parekh would often change SIM cards to avoid detection. But, that handset did not change much. This proved to be his biggest mistake. SEBI investigation found that handsets with certain IMEI numbers were being used to repeatedly give instructions to front-runners. For example, Parekh had submitted a mobile number whose last four digits were 8243. Although this number belonged to his wife, it was used by him. The handset with the same IMEI as this number was used for a second number, the last four digits of which were 9917.
The handsets handed over by Parekh were also used for other SIMs.
Parekh had said in his statement to SEBI that the mobile number with the last four digits 2996 was his. His partner Rohit Salgaonkar also confirmed that the number belonged to Parekh. But, during investigation, it was found that the same IMEI handset that was used for this number was also used for another number whose last four digits were 1068. After this, SEBI got the call record details of all such numbers released. This revealed from which places these numbers were used to make calls between 9 pm and 6 am.
The location of calls made from specific numbers was matched with Parekh’s travel history.
SEBI’s investigation made it clear that most of the time these numbers were used to make calls from Ketan’s home address. After that SEBI matched the location of use of these numbers with Parekh’s travel history. It was found that these numbers were used to make calls from hotels where Ketan Parekh was staying at different times. Then SEBI interrogated the hotel staff. This made it clear that Parekh had stayed in those hotels on the dates on which those numbers were used to make calls. This evidence was enough to prove Parekh guilty of embezzlement.