Order under sections 11, 11(4)(B) and 11B of The Securities and Exchange Board Of India Act, 1992 in the matter of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Limited

1. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (hereinafter referred to as SEBI), vide Order dated April 23, 2009 (hereinafter referred to as the Order) in the matter of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Limited (hereinafter referred to as the Company) inter alia restrained Mr. Pratheesh Kumar V.K. (hereinafter referred to as Mr. Pratheesh Kumar) from buying, selling or dealing in the securities market including in initial public offerings in any manner either directly or indirectly, till further directions.

2. As the facts of the case were narrated in the Order, I refrain from reiterating the same in detail now. However at the cost of repetition, I would like to mention the following, as mentioned in the Order, in so far it relates to the passing of directions against Mr. Pratheesh Kumar:

i. Mr. Rakesh Sharma, before being arrested had claimed that the forged SEBI letter was e-mailed by him from Mr. Nirmal Kotecha’s residence by using his personal e-mail ID to his media contacts. He had further claimed that through Mr. Ashok Jainani’s computer, he e-mailed the scanned letter from his e-mail account to Mr. Ashok Jainani’s email account, and then, Mr. Ashok Jainani sent the same to Business Standard. Mr. Rakesh Sharma had further admitted before his arrest that that when one of the reporters to whom Mr. Ashok Jainani had e-mailed the forged letter, desired to ascertain the authenticity of the information by confirming the same with the company officials, he contacted Mr. Nirmal Kotecha on his mobile. He had further stated that Mr. Nirmal Kotecha responded through short messaging service (SMS) providing the Company Secretary’s telephone number and his name (as one Mr. Ganesan, serving at Chennai office of the Company). Mr. Rakesh Sharma had stated that the said information was passed on by Mr. Ashok Jainani to the reporter. As Mr. Ganesan had informed the reporter that there was no such development and denied the contents of the forged letter, the reporter had called Mr. Ashok Jainani to inform him about this response from Mr. Ganesan. Mr. Rakesh Sharma also claimed to have informed Mr. Nirmal Kotecha that the Company Secretary had denied the development. Thereafter, Mr. Nirmal Kotecha had given the details of another Company Secretary, (name and telephone number of Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu) through SMS to him. Mr. Rakesh Sharma further informed SEBI that on receipt of the mobile number of Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu received through SMS from Mr. Nirmal Kotecha, he had sent the mobile number ‘9947219100’ as belonging to Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu to all those whom he had earlier forwarded the e-mail, so that, they could in turn confirm the information from Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu.

ii. Some of the reporters who had called the aforesaid number either on December 20 or 21, 2008, informed SEBI that the person who received the call confirmed that they had received the letter and were looking into the matter. iii. Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu, however, in his statement given to SEBI, denied having received any calls on December 19, 20 and 21, 2008 in the matter of the forged SEBI letter advising Mr. P.S. Saminathan to make an open offer. He also stated that neither any person from the media nor any reporter called him on those days. He had also stated that he had not confirmed to anybody regarding the receipt of the letter by the Company. iv. From the billing name and address of the aforesaid number provided by the service provider, it was found that the number which Mr. Nirmal Kotecha appeared to have passed on as that of Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu to Mr. Rakesh Sharma, and which Mr. Rakesh Sharma, in turn, circulated within his media circle friends, was actually registered in the name of Mr. Pratheesh Kumar with the billing address as Vanury House, Palakkat Lane, Thrissur. v. The call records of Mr. Nirmal Kotecha’s number (registered in the name of Mr. Amol Kokane) also indicated that immediately after sending messages through SMSes to Mr. Rakesh Sharma and Mr. Rajesh Unnikrishnan conveying Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu’s number as ‘994721900’, he had called on that number and also sent SMSes on that number. There were incoming calls too from the said number to Mr. Nirmal Kotecha’s mobile number registered in the name of Mr. Amol Kokane.

3. In view of the same, it was prima facie felt that Mr. Pratheesh Kumar acted as an imposter in place of Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu and that he had played a key role in misleading the media persons in believing the authenticity of the information that was being circulated to them. In view of the aforesaid preliminary findings, SEBI had issued directions against Mr. Pratheesh Kumar as mentioned above. Thereafter, Mr. Pratheesh Kumar in his statement dated June 11, 2009 to SEBI claimed that he had not taken the mobile number ‘9947219100’ in his name and that he did not know anything about it. He further stated that he had never used the said number and that he did not know the person who had taken the same and the person who was using the said mobile number. According to him, he did not receive any calls from media persons or journalists during the period December 19 to 23, 2008. While the investigation was in progress, an opportunity of hearing was granted to Mr. Pratheesh Kumar on September 7, 2009 wherein he reiterated the above statement. He also stated that he had nothing to do in the matter.

4. The investigation in the matter has been completed and the same revealed that the mobile number ‘994721900’ was admittedly used by a person who is a childhood friend of Mr. Nirmal Kotecha. The investigation further revealed that the aforesaid number was used by the said person during December 19 to 23, 2008, when the media persons had called on this mobile number for verifying the authenticity of the information that was passed on to them. Thus, investigation has revealed that the mobile number, 994721900, though, registered in the name of Mr. Pratheesh Kumar was actually used by the friend of Mr. Nirmal Kotecha during the time when the forged letter was circulated through the media for wide publicity. Further, it could be possible that the documents submitted by Mr. Pratheesh Kumar to obtain SIM cards for the mobile telephone numbers which were used by him and/or his family members could have been misused for obtaining the number “9947219100”.

5. In view of the above, it became clear that the imposter used in place of Mr. Kanhucharan Sahu, was not Mr. Pratheesh Kumar. The investigation also could not reveal any relation/nexus/association/connection between Mr. Pratheesh Kumar and the friend of Mr. Nirmal Kotecha, who was using the said mobile number. Therefore, in the interest of justice, I find it appropriate to dispose of the proceedings initiated against Mr. Pratheesh Kumar, vide SEBI Order dated April 23, 2009 and I do so accordingly.

6. In view of the foregoing, I, in exercise of the powers conferred upon me under Section 19 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 read with Sections 11, 11(4) and 11B thereof, hereby dispose of the proceedings initiated against Mr. Pratheesh Kumar V.K., vide Order dated April 23, 2009 in the matter of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Limited. Accordingly, the directions issued vide Order dated April 23, 2009 against Mr. Pratheesh Kumar V. K. in the said matter is revoked with immediate effect.

7. A copy of this Order shall be sent forthwith to the Depositories for necessary action.

DR. K. M. ABRAHAM WHOLE TIME MEMBER SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA PLACE: MUMBAI DATE: MARCH 10, 2011