Harshad Mehta

Known as the ‘Big Bull of Dalal Street’, Harshad Mehta, was an Indian stockbroker who became infamous for his role in the 1992 Indian Securities Scam. Involving a fraud of around Rs 4,000 crore, the ‘Securities Scam’, as it came to be known, shook the country and ultimately changed the rules of the game on Dalal Street. It is still one of the biggest frauds perpetrated on the Indian stock market to date. Mehta, a registered and well-known broker, manipulated the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) along with his partners by taking advantage of loopholes in the banking system. This systematic fraud that involved bank receipts (BR) and stamp papers eventually led the stock market to crash. When Mehta’s mode of operation in the stock market was eventually exposed, banks realised that they were in possession of fake BRs that ultimately held no value. One after the other all his ways were exposed and on June 4 1992, the CBI carried out a search on the Mehtas. His tax return for the assessment year of 1992-93 was rejected and he was imprisoned later that year. What followed for the next few years was multiple court cases and hearings. In 2001, Mehta died of a sudden heart attack in police custody. His family to date is fighting the many charges that were levelled against him. His life has been adapted into a web series called ‘Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story’. More