'Right or wrong, keep harmony': When Rakesh Jhunjhunwala compared Sebi to spouse

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was not known to mince words. People who have interacted with him – directly and indirectly – have interesting anecdotes to share that only prove that he was pragmatic in his approach and knew when to pick battles and when to let them go. 

It was sometime around early 2021 when Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was on his way to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) office in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex region. 

The purpose of his visit was to settle a regulatory probe that was initiated against him and his family members, including his wife and brother.  

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The capital markets regulator was probing whether certain individuals indulged in insider trading in the shares of Aptech. Jhunjhunwala was accompanied by lawyer Sumit Agrawal, who was representing the ‘Big Bull’ in the matter. 

“Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is personally going to be missed. He was always to the point and pragmatic. He really knew how to celebrate occasions as well as how to gracefully accept defeat,” says Agrawal, Founder, Regstreet Law Advisors. 

“He never withheld his words or tone. I distinctly remember an anecdote when he and I were going to Sebi for a meeting. It was related to a matter where Sebi's way of looking at certain transactions was different than his. After debating with me for long and understanding the pros and cons of certain options, he suddenly said that the regulators are like your spouse. Right or wrong, you should always defer to them to keep harmony. Life is all about perspectives. Let's settle it and move on,” adds Agrawal, a former Sebi law officer. 

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In July 2021, Sebi passed a settlement order against Jhunjhunwala, wife Rekha, brother Rajeshkumar and two other relatives. Utpal Sheth, who is the chief executive of Rare Enterprises – Jhunjhunwala’s investment company - and his sister Ushma Sheth Sule was also named in the order. 

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala settled the probe by paying ₹18.5 crore while Rekha paid ₹3.2 crore even as the total amount paid – including settlement amount, disgorgement, and interest – was over ₹37 crore - Ramesh Damani and two other individuals as well were imposed monetary charges in a separate order but in the same matter. 

The gist of the matter was that Aptech made an announcement on September 7, 2016, that it is foraying into the preschool segment. However, the information was considered Unpublished Price Sensitive Information or UPSI since March 14.  

According to Sebi, both Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Utpal Sheth were allegedly in possession of the UPSI and shared the information with others. Barring Utpal Sheth, all were alleged to have traded in the shares of Aptech based on UPSI. 

Also read: 'He was so angry': How Rakesh Jhunjhunwala had reacted to Tata vs Mistry saga

Incidentally, this was not Jhunjhunwala’s first tryst with Sebi. In November 2018, Sebi had passed another settlement order against Jhunjhunwala in a probe related to Geometric Limited wherein he was allegedly found violating norms related to disclosure of total shareholding rights. 

Agrawal had represented Jhunjhunwala in the Geometric matter as well.