Ulhas Prabhakar Khair and his wife Raksha are in custody for allegedly duping more than two lakh investors in the Rs 1,100 crore ‘Stock Guru’ scam. During a hearing Thursday, Khair did in court exactly what he is accused of — faking documents.
Only this time, Khair produced fake documents in the name of the special judge hearing the case and the special prosecutor for the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Khair had intended to show the court that documents produced by the ED as evidence against him could easily be faked and to prove his point, he submitted invoices with the judge’s and prosecutor’s names. All this while, Khair and Urs have been in judicial custody at Tihar Jail.
Not amused, Special Judge Gurdeep Singh ordered further action against Khair. The special court immediately ordered police to investigate the matter and take action against the accused.
“During the course of arguments in the case, Khair produced two documents which are alleged printout of invoices, bearing the name of the undersigned (Gurdeep Singh) and of Navin Kumar Matta, special prosecutor for ED, for having paid Rs 1,000 to Stock Guru India. On enquiry, he said he obtained the invoice from a stamp vendor in Moti Nagar,” said special judge Singh.
Khair, who is also facing criminal prosecution in an alleged money laundering case slapped by the ED, was produced before the special court in Patiala House in New Delhi District.
The court is presently hearing arguments of framing of charges against him under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
“The SHO of Tilak Marg police station is directed to investigate the matter and take necessary action,” ordered the judge. The special court will now hear the matter on July 21.
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Khair, his wife Priyanka Saraswat alias Raksha, his aide Nitin Sinha and his five Delhi-based companies — SGI Research and Analysis, SGI Securities, SGI Beverages Ltd, SGI Commodities Pvt Ltd, and SGI Buildtech — are facing criminal prosecution in a money laundering case.
The ED had chargesheeted them under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for allegedly possessing over Rs 85 crore in moveable and immovable properties. The ED claims that SGI floated a scheme promising high returns for a minimum investment of Rs 10,000, for which an amount of Rs 1,000 was to be paid as registration fee. The company then issued a user ID for investors to deposit money.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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