Members of estranged family, forged govt letters, and stolen tax documents at heart of criminal case to stop company from IPO listing

According to the FIR, lodged on December 8, last year, Govind Sarda and his son Aditya, along with the NGO, allegedly sent the fabricated letter issued by the SEBI to the ministry — dated November 27, 2024 — to reportedly show that Smartworks has not made certain disclosures.

Govind and Aditya, as per FIR, then allegedly attempted to blackmail and extort Smartworks promoters. “They have forged official documents of the Regional Director (Northern Region) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and impersonated very high-ranking government officials. The criminal activity was initially started by creation and camouflaging fake email IDs. This act has been carried out by the members of NGO named Infrastructure Watchdog,” the FIR stated.

Smartworks has also alleged in the FIR that the NGO, along with Govind and Aditya, allegedly smuggled its internal tax documents to extort the company further.

As per the FIR, NGO secretary Anil Kumar as well as Govind and Aditya used these documents to approach Smartworks, the complainant in the case, and threatened to file malicious complaints or raise allegations unless money was paid.

Upon Smartworks’ refusal to do so, the accused allegedly approached the SEBI with these documents “to arm twist the complainant company”.

“Govind Sarda, Aditya Sarda and Anil Kumar apparently stole some internal documents from the confidential files of the Income Tax Department, which are not shared with any outsider… (as per) established procedure… such conspiracy was hatched in or before March 2025 and the fabricated letter was surfaced at the time of the IPO to cause maximum injury to the complainant company and its shareholders,” the FIR stated.

The case stems from a dispute between the NGO and Smartworks.

As per the FIR, the NGO even approached the Supreme Court against the Securities Appellate Tribunal’s decision to green light the IPO.

The foundation of the FIR was laid last August, during the hearing of the appeal in the SC. The NGO presented to the court an alleged letter written by the ministry to SEBI – dated February 12, 2025 – which talked about probes against the promoters of Smartworks.

However, Smartworks counsel showed a reply issued under the Right to Information Act to the SC, which stated that no such letter had been sent by the ministry, hence claiming that the letter was forged.

The matter is now being probed by the IFSO (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations) unit of the Delhi Police.

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