‘Big bear’ Sharad Shah illegally hammering stocks, says R-Infra

Reliance Infrastructure, a part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has written to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) alleging that a ''powerful stock market operator'' (Sharad Shah) is hammering down the stock prices of 23 infrastructure companies for personal gains of hundreds of crores of rupees.

The letter, signed by the secretary of Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra) Ramesh Shenoy and addressed to IB director Nehchal Sandhu, alleges that Shah is leading the alleged bear cartel that has led to market capitalisation loss of more than Rs300,000 crore.

"In less than 90 days, this illegal cartel has already destroyed market value of Rs300,000 crore for the infrastructure sector, which is of the highest priority for the country," the letter states. "These bear operators, through market manipulation and rumour mongering, have distorted India's capital markets in general and the infrastructure sector in particular," it says.

The letter lists 23 companies - Larsen & Toubro, National Thermal Power Corp, BHEL, Reliance Power, Jaiprakash Associates, National Hydroelectric Power Corp, JSW Energy, Adani Power, Tata Power, Mundra Port and SEZ, GMR Infrastructure, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, ABB, Torrent Power and R-Infra - that were allegedly affected.

"Market sources indicate that hammering of infrastructure stocks has been led by stock market operator Sharad Shah (also known as Sharad Bobada),'' the letter dated 10 February alleges. "The cartel led by Bobada has constantly indulged in rumour mongering and manipulation of stocks of infrastructure companies for its personal enrichment and has accumulated crores of rupees in a short span," it adds.

Sharad Shah, when contacted, refused to comment.