In Brief
MS. Shivani Gupta and others were charged with insider trading by SEBI for trading in PC Jeweler Ltd. shares while allegedly possessing unpublished price sensitive information about a buyback offer. The WTM and SAT held them guilty based on trading patterns and family proximity. The Supreme Court allowed their appeal, finding that SEBI failed to prove the foundational facts required to establish insider status. The Court held that appellants were neither "connected persons" nor "immediate relatives" as legally defined, and that trading patterns alone cannot constitute circumstantial evidence of UPSI possession without cogent evidence of actual communication. The Court emphasized that family estrangement (established by prior family arrangements) and independent financial status vitiated any presumption of insider knowledge.
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