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Top ASE officials manhandled

BS Regional Bureau

Things took an ugly turn on Thursday at the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange as a mob consisting of stock brokers and sub-brokers turned violent and manhandled and beat up the executive director Rajiv Desai and also the surveillance department manager Kalpesh Shukla.

Sources said that a fracas erupted around 12 hrs (IST), when the brokers suspected that the automatic circuit breaker of eight per cent has been deliberately brought down to 4 per cent by the surveillance department without any rhyme or reason. This step is alleged to have restricted the upward and downward movement of scrip prices within a narrow range of maximum 8 per cent instead of the usual 16 per cent. As a result Reliance counter was allegedly frozen at Rs 340 when at other exchanges the scrip was trading at Rs 353.

As this inflicted losses on many brokers who were trading in major active scrips like Reliance and Zee TV, a mob of brokers is said to have rushed to the surveillance department and questioned the surveillance manager, who apparently alleged that this step was taken on the instructions given by the executive director. The latter, however, expressed ignorance about it.

This seems to have infuriated the brokers, sub-brokers and clients and they turned violent and in the process the executive director Rajiv Desai and surveillance department manager Kalpesh Shukla are alleged to have been manhandled and beaten up.

One of the ASE members Rakesh Ghiya said that he had suffered a loss of Rs 4 million within 15 minutes because of what happened. Another broker, speaking on condition of anonymity said that the circuit breaker of eight per cent in lieu of 16 per cent was deliberate ploy to create chaos by a section of disgruntled elements as a mark of protest against Sebi's and Union finance ministry's directive to corporatise and demutualise ASE.

Meanwhile an extra-ordinary general meeting was called by the governing board members in the afternoon wherein a decision was taken to conduct an inquiry into the episode and trace out the culprits.

Though no police complaint was lodged, police had to be called to extend protection to executive director and the manager of surveillance department from unruly elements. The police are learnt to have accompanied them out of the ASE building premises.

Top governing board members speaking on condition of anonymity said that at an emergency meeting called in the late evening at Hotel Inder Residency to sort out the issue and decide on the future course of action the executive director Rajiv Desai has owned moral responsibility.

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