S
HIVANI Bhatnagar, a
journalist with the Indian
Express, was stabbed and
strangled in her Delhi
apartment on January 23,- Ravi Kant Sharma, a senior
IPS officer of the Haryana cadre
became the prime accused in the
case. He went into hiding for
about two months, but later
surrendered to the Delhi Police.
The case became one of the most
high-profile murder cases ever,
with the name of even a central
government minister cropping
up during the course of its
media life. Sharma’s wife,
Madhu, accused BJP leader
Pramod Mahajan of being the
conspirator behind the murder.
Sharma, a 1976-
batch officer, had
been in the PMO
under I.K. Gujral,
and had an otherwise
excellent service
record. He was
convicted of the
murder along with
three others by a trial
court in 2008.
Three years later,
he and two others
were acquitted by the
Delhi High Court,
which upheld the
conviction of the
fourth accused,
Pradeep Sharma.
A batchmate of Sharma,
reque sting anonymity, remarks
that Sharma turned into a recluse
after the murder, and has been
living at his home in a posh
locality of Panchkula in Haryana
since his acquittal. His house is
called ‘Maison D’amour’, which
means ‘house of love’.
When contacted over the phone
by Outlook, Sharma politely
declined to speak. “I have been in
the news for long. I don’t wish to
be anymore,” he says. People in the
neighbourhood don’t remember
seeing him much.
A chemist in a nearby market
recounts a visit from Sharma about
three months ago. “He came and
asked for hair colour. It’s when he
told his name for the
bill that I recognised
him,” says the owner
of City Medicos.
Sharma was
dismissed from
service after his
conviction in the
case. After the
acquittal, he sought
reinstatement by the
Union home ministry,
but his representa-
tion was turned
down as a petition
against his acquittal
was pending in the
Supreme Court. O
Salik AhmadA Recluse Since the Act
R.K. Sharma
Former IPS officer, convicted/acquitted of murderCOP VS SCRIBE Sharma
was convicted and later
acquitted in the Shivani
Bhatnagar murder caseHyper-Networked
Puller of Strings
Ketan Parekh
Tainted stock brokerT
HE opinion is unanimous among promi-
nent stock market investors in Mumbai
that Ketan Parekh is very much active.
Ban or no ban, they say, Parekh manages
to find his way. “Investing in stocks is his
addiction. He never did leave the market,” says
an investor who has tracked Parekh for years.
The dapper Harshad Mehta and the reclusive
Parekh were involved in the biggest stock
market scams in liberalised India, leaving
many an investor without a shirt. The two
men used money borrowed from banks to inv-
est in the market and manipulate prices alm-
ost at will. Parekh bought large stakes in
companies with small market capitalisation.
Working closely with traders and the promot-
ers of these companies, the price would zoom.
“He would dictate orders to the company and
the promoters would succumb. For this,
a good network was a must, and that was
Parekh’s biggest strength,” says another
investor. Parekh’s favourite stocks came to be
known as K-10 and, as their valuations took
off, he was not quite the same. He threw
lavish parties, which brought him closer to
industrialists, film stars and other influencers.
IT and the media were his favourite sectors,
and many a promoter was happy to play along
as nothing thrilled them more than seeing
their stock prices hit ridiculously high levels.
The tack was to invest in those companies
with a market capitalisation of Rs 500-5,000
crore, often the easiest band to find greedy
promoters. By the end of March 2001, Parekh’s
game was up and it was established that he
was responsible for rigging the prices of 10
stocks over at least five years.
Following his arrest in 2001, Parekh has been
fighting a difficult battle, with the law never
more than a few feet away. But, to this day,
especially over the past six months, the
battering of many a mid-cap stock after an
impressive climb has his name being
mentioned as the one behind it. O
Krishna GopalanCOVER STORY
42 OUTLOOK 29 July 2019