Cartel Selling Investments in NSE Unlisted Shares Under ED Scanner; Searches Conducted at 8 Locations

Moneylife Digital Team 06 March 2026

Economy & Nation

The directorate of enforcement (ED) has conducted search operations at eight locations in Mumbai and Chennai in connection with a probe into a cartel allegedly luring investors with fraudulent offers to sell unlisted shares of the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

The searches were carried out on 27 February 2026 by the ED’s headquarter investigation unit (HIU) under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in a case involving Atum Capital Pvt Ltd and others.

According to the agency, the investigation so far has revealed the existence of a cartel operating through several entities, including Atum Capital, Optimus Financial Solutions Pvt Ltd, Babli Investment Pvt Ltd and Supremus Angel.

The alleged cartel was run by individuals identified as Satish Kumar, Sanjay Damani, Niraj Nisar, Krish Vohra, Manish Soni and Nisha Kumari, who are accused of luring investors with promises of access to unlisted shares of NSE, the agency says.

ED says the accused persuaded investors to purchase unlisted shares of NSE by claiming that they already held such shares and would transfer them to buyers. However, investigators have found that the accused entities did not possess any stock or ownership of the unlisted NSE shares they were offering.

As part of the scheme, the entities allegedly entered into share purchase agreements with investors at a premium price and collected large sums of money as advance payments.

Since NSE shares are not listed on any stock exchange, the delivery of such shares from seller to buyer is not regulated through stock exchange mechanisms, which the accused allegedly exploited to execute the fraudulent scheme.

According to ED, the funds collected from investors were treated as proceeds of crime and routed through multiple bank accounts before being invested in movable and immovable properties.

During the searches, investigators seized documents, digital devices and records related to the properties acquired by the accused persons. These materials are currently being examined to determine the full extent of the alleged fraud.

The agency has also frozen several bank and demat accounts linked to key individuals and entities involved in the case, including Satish Kumar, Sanjay Damani, Atum Capital, Optimus Financial Solutions and Babli Investment. The accounts are frozen under Section 17(1A) of the PMLA after investigators found them to contain proceeds of crime.

ED says that its investigation has also revealed that victims from across the country have filed multiple complaints against the accused persons. However, in several cases, first information reports (FIRs) are yet to be registered by law enforcement agencies.

Officials say further investigation is underway to identify additional victims, trace the flow of funds and establish the full scale of the alleged investment fraud linked to the sale of unlisted NSE shares.

Comments