The twenty-four years old scam involved defrauding of money of the amount Rs 700 crore, from the National Housing Bank, by Harshad Mehta. (PTI)

With charges for the involvement in the 1992 securities scam, the Bombay High Court had convicted six accused including prime accused Harshad Mehta’s brother Sudhir Mehta and five others. The twenty-four years old scam involved defrauding of money of the amount Rs 700 crore, from the National Housing Bank, by Harshad Mehta.

However, the Prime accused had died 14 years back in 2002. Over the accused pleas for leniency, citing health problems and sufferings for more than two decades, the court had denied to accept the appeal. Although the court accepted that the due to the extended duration of the court trial, the accused people had been through physical and mental sufferings but had also cited the seriousness of the case and stated that the 1192 scam had a shattering impact on the economy of the country.

Other than Sudhir Mehta, othe five convicted in the securities scam were stock broker Deepak Mehta, the cousin of the prime accused, NHB officials C Ravikumar and Suresh Babu, SBI officer R Sitaraman and stock broker Atul Parekh. The charges against the accused were of cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust, and under the Prevention of Corruption Act under the Indian Penal Code.

The 1992 securities scam involved the unauthorized transfer of large amounts of cash to the account of Harshad Mehat by showing fake transactions of ten cheques amounting Rs 700 crore, for purchasing securities from SBI.