Probe into October 17 crash

Sebi is studying information from its surveillance mechanism to find out if some entities had engineered the stock market crash of October 17. “We have all the information about who bought and sold stocks in the short-term, but we are not saying at this stage whether they manipulated the stocks or the market,” said Sebi chairman M Damodaran.

The Sensex had lost 1,700 points within minutes of opening on October 17, necessitating halt of trade for an hour. Only the previous evening, Sebi had come out with proposals to regulate foreign investments. The events of that day have made many of the top market players, especially foreign portfolio investors, suspects. “I will not be able to comment till it (probe) is brought to the state of finality,” Damodaran said.