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TOP STORY OF THE WEEK
SEBI bars Rajesh Exports over alleged Rs 15.15 lakh crore revenue misstatement - company says it won't challenge
SEBI's 109-page interim ex-parte order, issued June 3 by Whole Time Member Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, alleges Rajesh Exports misrepresented consolidated revenues of roughly Rs 15.15 lakh crore between FY21 and FY25 — about 99.8% of total reported consolidated revenue — with 97–99% attributed to overseas subsidiaries, chiefly Switzerland-based Valcambi SA. The probe began with a March 2024 shareholder complaint about trade receivables outstanding for over two years; forensic auditor BDO India was reportedly denied access to the company's ERP systems and books. The order restrains both the company and CMD Rajesh Mehta from the securities markets pending investigation.
LEGAL & TECH
'Homemakers are nation builders': Supreme Court fixes Rs 30,000/month as value of domestic care in accident claims
On Thursday June 11, a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh held that loss of domestic care provided by a homemaker is a distinct, compensable head of damages in motor accident claims, quantifying its minimum value at Rs 30,000 per month — to be revised by 10% cumulatively every three years. Where the homemaker is also employed, this component applies in addition to proved income, and it supplements the heads of damages recognised in the Pranay Sethi judgment.
Legal AI's big-money week: Palantir enters the arena, Sandstone raises Usd 30M
Artificial Lawyer reports that Palantir has entered legal tech, joining OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft in the space, while Sandstone raised usd 30 million in a Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners to build AI-native legal departments. The signal for Indian practice leaders: global capital is now betting on AI-native legal operations, not just research tools. India is well positioned, with roughly 1,000 homegrown legaltech startups — second only to the US — though senior partners at leading firms still express hesitation about deployment despite buying AI licences.
CORPORATE COMPLIANCE
The Supreme Court's RIL–SEBI verdict is rewriting the fraud playbook — and SEBI is already using it
A recent Supreme Court judgment in the Reliance Industries–SEBI dispute has clarified two routes to establish securities fraud: where investor harm is demonstrable, the injury itself may suffice; where loss cannot be quantified, regulators may infer wrongful intent from surrounding circumstances. Market participants see SEBI's Rajesh Exports interim order as an early application of these principles, marking a shift from proving direct economic damage toward scrutinising disclosure integrity and intent.
RBI tightens bank lending to REITs and InvITs — bullet repayments out, full security in
On Wednesday June 10, RBI released the Third Amendment Directions, 2026 under its Commercial Banks – Credit Facilities framework, requiring loans to REITs and InvITs to be fully secured and repaid through regular cash flows, with bullet or balloon-style repayments disallowed. Banks may lend only to SEBI-registered, exchange-listed trusts; security must include charge on underlying assets, assignment of rental/toll cash flows, pledge of SPV equity, and escrow accounts, with board-approved exposure policies mandatory.
Risk Intelligence
ED makes fourth arrest in Rs 645 crore IDFC First Bank embezzlement case
The ED arrested Naresh Kumar, a former superintendent in Haryana's Development and Panchayat department, on June 10 under PMLA, with custody granted till June 14. The investigation has so far revealed embezzlement of Rs 645 crore in public funds from accounts of the Haryana government, Chandigarh UT administration, and two private schools maintained with IDFC First Bank. Kumar allegedly acted as a key middleman in fund diversion, receiving Rs 1.20 crore in his and family accounts, with embezzled money routed through shell entities including Capco Fintech Services, Swastik Desh Projects, RS Traders, and SRR Planning Gurus; three accused were arrested earlier.
ED widens Rs 100 crore GST fraud probe touching Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora
The ED carried out fresh searches this week across Delhi-NCR and Punjab (including Ludhiana and Jalandhar) in a money laundering probe linked to an alleged Rs 100 crore GST fraud involving mobile phone transactions, connected to Punjab Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora and his firm Hampton Sky Realty; premises of municipal contractor Amit Bajaj were also searched. The company has rejected allegations of round-tripping or bogus exports, calling itself a victim of supplier-side fraud, and Arora had separately faced ED searches in 2024 in a land-conversion matter.