Harshad's assets may fetch Rs 1,000 crore!

The government on Thursday said it expected Rs 800-1,000 crore (Rs 80-100 billion) to be recovered from liquidation of the assets of late stock broker Harshad Mehta who was convicted in the stock market scam of 1990s.

The amount will be used to meet a large portion of the liability of the stock broker towards taxes and banks.

"With this additional amount (Rs 800-1,000 crore), nearly all the principal liabilities of the Harshad Mehta Group towards taxes, banks and financial institutions are expected to be met," the finance ministry said in a release.

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This follows a recent Supreme Court order on attachment of Mehta's assets.

The apex court on May 6 had upheld a government notification to attach property belonging to Mehta in Mumbai as his family members failed to explain the source of their income.

The assets likely to be liquidated by the Custodian and made available for distribution comprise of shares and immovable properties, apart from cash and fixed deposits.

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In March, Satish Loomba, Custodian (Trial of Offences Relating to Transactions in Securities) had distributed about Rs 2,200 crore (Rs 22 billion) to income tax authorities and the State Bank of India.

Harshad Mehta courted controversy in 1992 after the stock market was rocked by the multi-crore rupee scam exposing a strong nexus among the stock market, banks and financial institutions to dupe hundreds of thousands of investors across the country.

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The Supreme Court had given the judgement after rejecting an appeal filed by Rasila S Mehta, Rina S Mehta and Jyothi Mehta, mother sister-in-law and wife respectively of Harshad Mehta.

The Custodian had argued that the income of the female family members of Harshad Mehta had risen from near nil levels to billions in a short period without asset base.